Hearts & Cards
by Karmaricxx
Summary: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of it's characters, except my OC. I wrote this when I was 13, I haven't fixed it much, sorry. Callie has been through a lot; she lost her adoptive mother before moving to Domino, Japan, to start a new life. She didn't know that world famous Seto Kaiba would become such a huge part of her life.
1. Chapter 1

I slowly walked down a tree-lined street, looking for my old friend. My name is Caledonia Jayne Andersen, but my friends call me Callie. Before I give you the low-down of my life, I better tell you what I looked like. I had knee length dirty blonde hair and really dark brown eyes that almost look black. As for my attire...well let's just say I wore _a lot _of accessories. I usually wore a black sleeveless top with a collar, a red tie, a black arm sleeve that has studs around the wrist and red lines on it on my left arm, a heart necklace wrapped around my right arm, a fingerless biker glove on my right hand, a studded belt on my upper right arm, a belt choker and a red and black tartan pleated skirt. Now for my life story.

I was brought up in an orphanage. My parents abandoned me and left me in an old, rundown house. I was not found for another two days. I stayed at the orphanage in Australia until I was two, and then a nice woman adopted me. She had told me about what my parents did just before my 15th birthday. We moved to Domino City, Japan 10 years later, stayed there for a year, then moved back to Australia. It had been 4 years since then. So you could probably guess I was 16 at the time. Anyway, enough about me. Time to move on to my story.

As I turned a corner, I saw a group of people walking towards me. I knew who the shortest boy was. Yugi Moto. I could tell because of his hair. It was black and red and he had blonde bangs and it was really spiky. He was also wearing his school uniform, which was kind of odd considering it was a weekend. What really caught my attention was the upside down pyramid handing around his neck. I knew they had to have seen my friend because I had seen my friend hanging around them when Seto Kaiba hosted his Battle City Tournament. I walked up to them.

"Hi, would any of you know where Duke Devlin is?" I asked.

"Yes?" said a tall boy with black hair pulled back in a pony tail on the side of his head and green eyes. He looked at me and I saw a small smile appear on his face. "Callie?"

"The one and only!" I said proudly. "I think," I added, scratching my cheek.

Everyone did an anime fall.

"No wonder I said you reminded me of someone, Joey!" said Duke, getting up. He walked up to me and gave me a big hug. I laughed as he lifted me up and spun me around. He then put me down and let go of me. "Callie, these are my friends: Yugi Moto, Téa Gardner, Tristan Taylor and Joey Wheeler."

Téa looked really odd being surrounded by so many boys. She had short brown hair that looked like it was supposed to be a bob cut and bright blue eyes. The guy named Tristan looked like a total tool, no offence to the poor guy. He had brown hair that came out to a point at the front of his head and brown eyes. Joey was the cutest out of the lot. He had dirty blonde hair that looked really hot and chocolate brown eyes.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Caledonia Andersen, but call me Callie. I'm Duke's friend, obviously."

Yugi, Tristan, Téa and Joey stared at me.

"Hold on. Are the one from Australia?" Yugi asked.

"Yeah."

"So tell us, Callie, how come you knew we would have known Duke?" Joey said in a really hot Brooklyn accent.

"I've seen him hanging around you lot. You were all walking towards KaibaCorp. Stadium for Kaiba's tournament," I said, straightening the black headband I always wore.

"But then, how come Duke knows you if you're from Australia?" Téa asked.

"Oh, me and my mum moved here when I was about twelve then we moved back to Australia," I answered rubbing the back of my neck. "Now, would one of you be able to show me where KaibaCorp. is?"

"Why do you want to know where that is?" asked Téa.

"I have to see Kaiba," I said.

"Why do you have to see Rich Boy?" asked Joey.

"There's a position vacant at KaibaCorp. and I wanna apply for it," I explained.

"We'll take you there," said Yugi, smiling. "After all, any friend of Duke's is a buddy of mine!"

"Thanks a lot!"

It took us have an hour to walk to KaibaCorp. As we stopped just outside, Joey challenged me to a duel. Me, being the sort of person to never back down from a challenge, accepted.

"It'll have to wait though. I've gotta see about the job," I sighed.

"Why would you wanna work for Kaiba of all people anyway?" said Joey, scratching his head in thought.

"It's not whether I wanna work for him or not. I want this job cause its got good pay," I said, walking towards the doors of KaibaCorp. "Meet you out here in half and hour!" I called back as I walked inside.

As I stepped over the threshold, a small boy with long black hair and grey eyes ran up to me.

"Welcome to KaibaCorp!" he said cheerfully. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, uh, I came to see about the secretary position," I said uncertainly.

"Did you phone to make an appointment?"

"No, sorry."

"That's okay! Seto won't mind!"

"You're Mokuba, aren't you?" I asked, as the boy lead me towards the elevator.

"Yeah, why?" asked the boy.

"No reason," I said, as we stopped in front of the elevator. Mokuba pressed the button and the doors opened. We both walked in. "So, what's it like being the brother of one of the best duellists around?"

"Its cool, but sometimes it gets annoying when being beaten by Yugi gets to Seto's head and he takes any chance he can to duel Yugi," said Mokuba, as the elevator doors opened again. We walked down the hall. We walked past many doors, but stopped at a set of double doors at the end of the hallway. "Seto, there's someone here to talk to you about the secretary position!" Mokuba called, knocking.

There was no answer. Mokuba opened the door.

Seto Kaiba was sitting at his deck, flicking through his duelling deck. He had nice brown hair, but I could not see his eyes. From what I could see, he was wearing a black turtle neck top and a white sleeveless trench coat.

"I have one question to ask," said Kaiba, putting his deck down and looking up at me and Mokuba with sapphire blue eyes.

_Ooohh damn boy! Where have you been all my life?_ I mentally asked.

"Do you know Yugi Moto?"

"Well, not really. I only met him just before I came here. My old friend was hanging around him."

"Really?" said Kaiba, not taking his eyes off me. Needless to say, it was a little daunting to have him continually staring at me, but it was not so bad, his eyes were so pretty. "Who are you?"

"Caledonia Andersen," I said shyly.

"So, you're the little friend that Devlin always babbles about. I take it Duke Devlin is your old friend?" Kaiba inquired.

"Yes."

"How old are you?"

"I'm sixteen."

"Do you play Duel Monsters?"

"Yes. In fact, I've got a duel coming up when I leave here," I said happily.

"Against who?" asked Kaiba.

"Joey Wheeler. Oh, and I was wondering if I could borrow a duel disk?" I asked meekly.

Kaiba reached under his desk, pulled out a duel disk and placed it in front of him.

"I'm going to watch your duel against Wheeler and see how good you can duel, and then I'll decide if you get the job as my secretary," he said, standing up. He was wearing black pants.

_Damn..._ I thought, checking him out. _He's a bit fit...and tall. Just what I look for in a guy. Can I have him?_

He grabbed the duel disc and held it out in front of me. I snapped out of my daze and took it. "It's mine, so don't damage it!"

"Don't worry, I won't!" I said, locking it onto my arm.

Kaiba, Mokuba and I left Kaiba's office and walked down the long corridor towards the elevator. Kaiba pushed the button, the doors opened and we stepped in.

"How come I've never seen you around before?" asked Kaiba as the elevator doors closed.

"I'm from Australia. I moved here when I was ten. That's how I know Duke. We moved back a year later. I had just arrived here when you kicked off Battle City," I said quietly. "I was gonna ask if I could join, but then I decided that I'd never get to the finals."

As me, Kaiba and Mokuba walked out of KaibaCorp, I saw Yugi, Téa, Tristan and Duke standing around. Joey was no-where to be seen.

"Where's Wheeler?" asked Kaiba.

"He's looking for his duel disk," said Yugi. "Who owns that one?" he added, pointing to the one on my arm.

"It's mine," said Kaiba, looking to his right. "Here comes Wheeler."

We all looked to where Kaiba was looking. Joey was running up the street while strapping on his duel disk.

"Hurry up, Wheeler! I haven't got all day!"

"Cram it up ya pie hole, Moneybags!" said Joey, stopping in front of me. "You don't have to stay and watch!"

"Ready to lose?" I asked, taking ten steps back.

"Bring it!" said Joey, shoving his deck into the card slot. The gang were on one side of our battlefield and Mokuba and Kaiba were on the other.

"Okay!" said Mokuba. "You'll be duelling by Battle City rules!"

"Let's do this!" I yelled.

"Okay, ladies first!" said Joey.

"Thanks! I summon Injection Fairy Lily in attack mode!" I yelled, placing the card on my duel disc.

The monster appeared and said, "hi there!"

"Eh?" said Joey, bewildered.

"Let's give Joey a check-up, Lily!" I said, pointing at Joey.

Lily dove for Joey and said, "Say 'ah'!"

"Huh? What the-"

Lily started chasing Joey around in circles. I just stood there and laughed. It was very entertaining.

"Joey, just stay still! She won't hurt you...much!" I giggled. Joey stopped and looked at me just as Lily went up behind him and stuck the needle she was riding on up his ass. He let out a high-pitched scream. This just made me laugh even more.

"You lose!" I said smugly as the monster holograms disappeared. I had just flogged Joey's ass, and I must say, I had fun doing it!

"I must say I'm impressed," said Kaiba.

"Good match Callie!" Joey said, walking up to me. I shook his hand. I took off the duel disc, walked over to Kaiba and Mokuba and handed it back to Kaiba.

"Thanks!" I said. He nodded

"Come on Callie! I wanna show you around Domino City!" Duke said, as he and the others walked over to me, Kaiba and Mokuba. He then linked his arm with mine.

"Hold up! You go ahead, I have to do something," I said.

"Okay, but if you're not at the Domino Arcade in half an-" He was cut off by me tutting him.

"Duke, don't worry about me, I can look after myself."

"Yeah, like you took care of yourself four years ago?" he said. My sharp intake of breath and my eyes widening made him realise what he just said. Everyone looked at me in puzzlement.

"Callie, what's Duke goin' on about?" Joey asked concern in his voice.

"Callie, I'm really sorry!" Duke whispered, pulling me into a hug. I gently pushed him away. I really didn't feel like being touched by him at that present moment.

"Don't worry about it," I said quietly, fighting to hold back the tears that threatened to overflow. "I'm going for a walk." I walked away. The tears came and streamed down my face. I wiped them away.

"So, what was all that about?" I heard Joey say.

I didn't take any notice and continued walking around aimlessly, not really caring where I was going.  
I walked into an alley, leaned against the wall and slid down it.

_Duke knows how much I wanna forget those memories!_ I thought angrily while holding my head in my hands.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" said a slurred voice from the back of the ally. I looked and saw a man walk out of the shadows, a knife in hand. "What's a pretty thing like you doin' in an alley like this?"

The man was advancing on me.

"Get away from me!" I said, terrified as I pushed myself along the wall.

"Now why would I do that?" he asked. He kneeled down in front of me. His breath smelled strongly of alcohol. He brought his lips down onto mine roughly. He dropped the knife and held onto my arms, preventing me from escaping. He shoved his tongue into my mouth. I knew it was my time to strike. I bit down on his tongue. Hard. He pulled away from me roughly and let go. I had the metallic taste of blood in my mouth. I drew back my fist and punched him square in the nose. A loud cracking noise told me that I had broken it. He wiped the blood from his face and glared at me.

"You'll pay for that!" he growled. I saw him pick up the knife just as I got up to run away. He reached out and slashed my ankle.

I cursed loudly. I quickly limped out of the ally, leaving a trail of blood behind. Once I was a good distance from the alley, I sat down in the gutter and pulled out a dressing and a bandage out of a hidden pocket in my skirt. "Just as well I keep these with me," I muttered. I put the dressing on my cut, which went straight across my left ankle, then wrapped the bandage around it.

"Callie!"

I looked around and saw Mokuba running pell-mell towards me.

"Seto said you can have the job but you gotta go back to KaibaCorp right now!" Mokuba said, skidding to a halt next to me. He looked down at my ankle. "What happened to your ankle?"

"Twisted it. Now, we better get back to KaibaCorp so your brother won't think you're missing or I've kidnapped you," I said, standing up. A sharp pain shot up my leg from my ankle. I winced slightly.

"Are you okay?" Mokuba asked worriedly.

"Yeah," I said as I quickly sat back down.

"Do you have a mobile?" asked Mokuba.

"Yeah, here," I said, pulling my phone out of my shirt pocked. I felt I could trust this kid so I handed my mobile to him. He slid it open and started dialling numbers.

"Hey Seto, could you send a limo to come pick up me and Callie...she's sprained her ankle...we're about five K's from KaibaCorp...Okay, thanks Seto!" Mokuba slid my phone shut and passed it back to me. "He said he'll be here in a minute."

"He doesn't have to come pick me up as well," I muttered, even though I would have given anything to look at him again.

"Seto said he doesn't want his secretary hurt, so he's taking you to our house to get your ankle looked at by our doctors," Mokuba explained.

"Your house? Doctors?" I yelled in disbelief.

_Shit! What's Kaiba gonna say when he finds out I've lied to his brother? O.O_

"I'm fine, really. I don't need to go-" I started but Mokuba cut me off.

"Is that blood come through your bandage?"

I slowly looked down and saw a thick red line coming through the bandage.

"Aw shit!" I muttered. I was about to start unwrapping my ankle, when Mokuba yelled out my name. I spun my head around just in time to see a silver dagger flying past my face and down my back. I let out a blood-curdling scream as the knife travelled down my back. It sliced through my shirt and bra. I could feel it gliding through my skin. I could feel the blood being absorbed by my skirt. I felt Mokuba kneel down next to me. He pulled off his vest and placed it on my back.

The last thing I saw before passing out was a black limo pulling up near me.

I slowly opened my eyes to find that I was lying on my stomach on something soft. Without sitting up, I looked around and saw that I was in a massive room with nothing except a desk, what looked like a built-in wardrobe and two doors I assumed leaded out of the room. I realised that I was lying on a bed. I tried to get up on all fours, but I felt a huge surge of pain shoot up my back and I fell back into the bed with a groan. I then realised that I didn't have my original clothes on. I had a long polo shirt and a pair of boxers on.

"I thought it was all a dream," I muttered.

"Unfortunately, it wasn't."

I looked around and saw none other than Seto Kaiba sitting beside the bed on a chair.

"Where am I?" I asked.

"You're at my house. You're lucky I came when I did; you lost a hell of a lot of blood from both your back and your ankle. To which I am curious why you told my brother that you twisted your ankle?" said Kaiba.

"I didn't want him to worry. I didn't want him to know that I was attacked by a mad man who tried to rape...me...uhh...heh, did I just say that? I'll shut up now!" I said, pulling the doona over my head.

"You were nearly raped?" asked Kaiba, as he pulled the doona back off me.

"Yes, now can I be left to wallow in self pity? I really don't feel like talking about this. On second thought, I'll just leave."

I slowly got up and stood beside the bed, despite my ankle and back screaming in agony, only to come face to face with Kaiba.

"May I ask as to what Devlin was talking about earlier?" he asked impatiently.

"I'm sorry, but that's none of your business!" I replied shortly.

"You're working for me so I'm gonna make it my business!" Kaiba shot back.

_Goddamn it! He is so nosey!_ I thought angrily.

"Fine!" I said irritably. "During the year that me and my mum were living here, which was four years ago, I was walking home from Duke's when a man jumped me and hit me across the head with God knows what. Anyway, when I woke up, I found myself tied to a bed, undressed. Then a man walked in and stripped. He raped me for about a month; once every day..." I broke off and sat down on the bed. "I was found by Duke one day while that...sick, twisted man was raping me 'cause I was screaming pretty loud. Later on, he told me that I was put up for a million dollar ransom. He's never brought it up 'cause he knows how much I hate those memories, which you made me bring up, so I might just leave..."

I stood up and grabbed my shoes, which I found near the bed and walked out of the room. "By the way," I called over my shoulder, "I'll bring back your clothes some other time." I slowly walked down the staircase and out the front door. Just as I was reaching for my phone, it rang. I answered it.

"Hello?"

"CALEDONIA JAYNE ANDERSEN! WHERE ARE YOU? I'VE BEEN WORRIED SICK ABOUT YOU!" yelled Dukes voice from the other end of the phone.

"Duke Devlin, don't you dare go yelling at me!" I growled back.

"I'm sorry Callie, I was just worried. Where are you so I can pick you up?" said Duke with a sad voice.

"Uh, I'm out the front of Kaiba's place," I said slowly, looking at it, and then going wide-eyed.

_Goddamn this place is huge!_

"WHAT? What are you doing there?"

"He helped me okay. Just hurry up, later!"

I hung up and waited for about ten minutes until Duke showed up in his car. When I got in, I explained what happened, then got a major lecture about 'how I shouldn't run off and I should be more careful'.


	2. Chapter 2

I had been working at KaibaCorp for about a week and Kaiba had been somewhat nice to me. Like when I got something wrong, he would not yell at me like he did to other employees. A lot of people kept asking me to duel so Kaiba gave me a duel disk if my own.

It was about 8:30 pm and I was at my desk at the front of Kaiba's office, surfing the net when the phone rang.

"Hello, thank you for calling KaibaCorp. This is Callie," I answered happily.

"Hey, Callie!" It was Joey.

"Hello Joseph. How are you this fine Saturday night?" I asked, still surfing.

"Alright, I guess," he sighed. "Listen, I gotta ask you somethin', would ya be able to stop what you're doin'?"

"I'm surfing the net and I can do that while listening to you," I said. I heard Joey sigh in frustration and I laughed a little.

"How can you possibly listen to what I have to tell ya when you're staring at a computer screen?" said Joey, angrily.

"Easy...I'm multi-talented!" I said, grinning to myself. Joey growled so I stopped. "Alright Joey, I've stopped, so shoot."

"Okay, I know we've only known each other for a week and you probably think it's too soon, but, will you-"

"Miss Andersen! I would like a word!" said Kaiba's voice over Joey's.

"Yes Sir! I'm coming now! Listen Joey, I gotta go. I'll talk to you later. Bye!" I hung up before Joey could say anything. I got up and walked into Kaiba's office. "You wanted to see me, Sir?"

Kaiba was sitting at his desk staring at me intently with his fingers arched in front of his face.

"Yes, will you sit, please?" Seto said. Actually, it was more like asked.

_Holy shit!_ Please? _He said_ please? _I should've caught that on tape!_ I thought shocked as I sat down in the lone chair in front of Kaiba's desk.

"It has come to my attention that you are not fit to be my secretary-"

"Are you firing me?" I asked, sadly, cutting him off.

_I had that one coming, didn't I?_ I asked myself.

"No, I'm not firing you," said Kaiba, cutting me from my thoughts. He stood up from his desk and walked around it to stand in front of me. "I'm promoting you."

"To what?" I asked, standing up. The top of my head only just reached the top of his shoulder.

"You're going to be my personal assistant. Surely you won't be able to stuff anything up," said Kaiba.

"Touché, I hope I-"

Kaiba grabbed my hips and pulled me towards him, cutting me off. Our lips connected in a fiery kiss.

_OH MY GOD, OH MY GOD, OH MY FRIGGING GOD!_ I thought in shock.

I tried to pull away but I felt his hands tighten on my waist, pulling me closer to him. I tentatively slid my arms around his neck as I shyly return his kiss. I felt the tip of his tongue dart out and flick the seam of my lips before retreating. My lips parted and he took the opportunity to deepen the kiss by slipping his tongue into my mouth. I felt his hands move up towards my hair as his tongue slowly started stroking mine. His hands tangled themselves in my hair and he pulled my head closer. He groaned slightly into my mouth. The kiss continued like this for a few moments getting hotter and heavier until...

"Seto?"

Kaiba and I broke away from each other and we both took our seats. I was desperately trying to catch my breath while straightening myself up.

_What just happened?_ I asked myself in disbelief.

"Come in, Mokuba!" Kaiba called.

The door opened and Mokuba walked in. He took one look at me, and then ran at me. I stood up and he tackled me in a big hug. I felt a huge surge of pain erupt from my back but I hid it. I nearly lost my footing, but I managed to keep myself up.

"Hey, Kiddo. Why are you so happy to see me? It's only been a day," I asked, laughing slightly.

"I missed you!" he said, still hugging me.

"Ahem!"

Mokuba let go of me and we both looked towards Kaiba.

"What are you doing here Mokuba?" asked Kaiba, sternly.

"That's no way to greet your brother!" I said angrily.

"Don't stick your nose into this!" said Kaiba, looking towards me.

"It's got nothing to do with my nose! It's got to do with your manners towards your brother!" I said angrily. Kaiba glared at me. "Sorry Mr. Kaiba," I said quickly, bowing my head.

"I just came here to ask when you were coming home 'cause you're usually home by now," Mokuba explained, slightly scared.

Kaiba explained to Mokuba that he had to talk to me and he lost track of time. When Mokuba walked out the door, I turned to face Kaiba.

"Listen, Sir...I think it's best if we forget what happened a few minutes ago; I'm not ready for this..." I trailed off and ran out the door before Kaiba could answer.

Another week pasted and Kaiba hardly ever talked to me, only when he wanted something done; which was not very often so I just laid on the lounge and daydreamed.

I was sitting in Computer Studies, when my mobile went off. Just as well it was on silent, or I would have been in major trouble. I pulled it out of my pocket and saw that it was a message. It was from Kaiba.

_Meet me outside when you get out of school. Seto Kaiba._

I put my mobile away and played games. We had free time and I could not be bothered trying to hack into my email cause I forgot my password. I only had to wait five minutes for the bell to sound for the end of school. When it rang, I logged off the computer, grabbed my bag and ran out of the classroom. I met the gang out near the lockers, who were already there by the time I got there, except Duke because he stayed home sick.

When we walked outside, we saw a crowd of kids from our school standing it the front gate.

"Hey, come on! I gotta go!" I growled angrily, trying to push my way through the crowd.

Yugi got through and he stopped dead in his tracks.

"Hey, what's wrong Yuge?" I asked, as I made my way to the front of the crowd.

"It's him!" said a voice loudly. I looked up and saw a crowd of people with duel disks standing in front of me and Yugi. "Told you he's a lot smaller than on TV!"

They all ran for me and Yugi. We screamed and prepared to be bombarded by duellists. But it never came. I looked up.

Joey and Tristan had pushed their way through and had stood in front of me and Yugi. I looked around and saw Téa behind us.

"Téa, try and get Yugi out of here while me, Joey and Tristan hold 'em off!" I said over the calls of the duellists.

"You sure?" asked Téa.

"Yeah, we'll handle things here!" said Joey, with a smile.

"Thanks guys!" said Yugi.

"You can thank them later. Let's go Yugi!" Téa said hastily, pulling Yugi out of the crowd.

"You guys ready?" I asked.

"Ready! On three!" said Tristan.

"And THREE!" the three of us yelled, running out of the crowd.

"Forget about those nobodies!" said a dude as Joey, Tristan and me stopped and turned around.

"What'd you say?" Joey asked angrily.

"I said you're nobodies!" said the dude.

"Yeah, that's right! And everybody knows it too!" said another.

"Well, just everybody who's anybody that is!" said a third.

"Listen up! Nobody, but nobody calls me a nobody you bunch of nobodies! Got that?" me and Joey yelled at the same time.

"We don't want you three; we want Yugi," said the first.

"Yeah, we want the King of Games, not the king of lame!"

"The Duel Monsters champ, not chump!"

"The master of the Gods, not the master of the clods!"

"Hey, I think I get the point already!" said Joey, cleaning out his ear with his finger. "But you gotta prove yourselves first be duelling a top contender. And I think I know one!"

"Seto Kaiba?" Tristan asked, bewildered.

"ME, Joey Wheeler-"

"AND don't forget about Callie Andersen!" I added in, jumping in front of Joey.

"Yeah, so if you wanna got to the King of Games, you'll have to go through us; the, uh, uh-"

"The Godmother and Father of Games, capicse?" I said in an old person's voice. In all honesty, I thought I pulled it off.

Joey and I activated our duel disks.

"Alright, so who wants some?" said Joey.

Five minutes later, I had won against the third dude and Joey was still duelling the first dude. Another five minutes and Joey had won against both the first and second duellists.

"Hehehe! Maybe now you'll have the proper respect for Joey and Callie the Godfather and Mother of Games!" said Joey, putting his arm around my shoulders.

"Yeah, so anyone else game enough to challenge us?" I asked, mockingly. As I said that, a black stretch-limo pulled up. "Oh, Kaiba's here! I'll see you two later!" I said, running towards the limo. Joey and Tristan waved to me as I opened the door and I waved back. I slipped into the limo and sat across from Kaiba, who was typing on a laptop. I looked out the back window as the limo pulled away and saw Joey and Tristan being trampled by the mob of duellists. I giggled a bit, and then turned back around.

_Poor Joey and Tristan_, I thought sympathetically.

"So Mr. Kaiba, why are you picking me up? Is there something that you need help with at KaibaCorp?" I asked._ Even though you've got over a thousand people working for you there._

"No, actually. I'm just taking you home," said Kaiba, not looking up from his laptop.

"Would you mind taking me to KaibaCorp with you? Cause Duke's home sick and if I go home, he'll make me his personal slave," I whined, not taking my eyes off Kaiba.

He looked up from his laptop and into my eyes. I had to fight the urge to say 'You have beautiful eyes'. That statement was not a joke either. His eyes were gorgeous.

"I'm not going to KaibaCorp; I'm going to the Duel Dome and you might as will come. You can keep Mokuba company while I'm gone," he said, turning his head slightly. "Mark, go straight to the Duel Dome!"

"Yes Sir!" said the driver. Kaiba turned back around and resumed his work.

"Where are you going?" I asked curiously.

"I'm going to see Pegasus," he said.

"Ooohh! Can I come?" I asked excitedly. "I'll be good and I'll do exactly what you say and-" I stopped because Kaiba was glaring at me. "Sorry Sir, I'll shut up now." I quickly looked out the window and Kaiba continued his work. After a few minutes, he broke the silence.

"You can come if you want."

"Really? Thanks Sir!" I said happily.

Within a matter of seconds, the limo stopped at the Duel Dome. Kaiba got out, and then helped me.

"Thanks Mr. Kaiba," I said, blushing.

_Goddamn it! He. Is. So. HOT!_ I yelled in my head.

As we entered the Duel Dome, a black blur rammed into me, and knocked me off my feet. I landed on my ass.

"Oww! Hey Mokuba," I said, hugging Mokuba back, despite the ever-growing pain in my back.

"Callie, what are you doing here?" he asked, getting off me.

"I'm going with your brother," I said, getting up. "Oww, my butt hurts!" I rubbed my ass.

"Sorry," Mokuba apologised sadly.

"Hey, don't worry," I said, crouching down in front of Mokuba and putting my hand on his head. "It doesn't worry me if you hurt me. If you're angry for any reason whatsoever, you can even use me as a punching bag, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good! Well then, let's get going Mr. Kaiba!" I said, standing up. I pulled my headband out of my bag. "Hey Sir, would I be able to change out of these clothes before we go? They're really uncomfortable."

"Whatever," said Kaiba, walking off in the direction that Mokuba had come from moments beforehand.

Mokuba and I followed him. Just before we reached a flight of stairs going under the dome, I saw the girl's toilets.

"Mokuba," I said, tapping his shoulder. He turned around to face me. "Tell your brother I'm getting changed, okay?"

"Yeah," he said, running up to Kaiba, who was just about to go down the stairs.

I quickly went into the toilets, pulled out some clothes and got changed into them. They were just my usual attire.

Ten minutes later, Kaiba and I were sitting in the Blue Eyes White Jet. I was sitting behind Kaiba, examining all the buttons in front of him. So basically I was leaning over Kaiba's seat and he had a look like O.o The platform started moving up to the launch pad.

"Ooh! Oh my god Mr. Kaiba! There are so many buttons! How do you know which ones to push?" I asked, wide-eyed.

"I designed this so I think I would know what buttons to push," said Kaiba, coldly.

"Oh, right. Sorry Sir," I said, pulling my MP3 out of my bag.

"Activating main thrusters!" said Kaiba, pushing a handle.

"Hey, Callie!" said Mokuba's voice from somewhere.

"Hey, Mokuba!" I said loudly, looking down at my MP3.

"I hope you know what you're doing big brother."

"I was just hoping the same thing!" said Kaiba, pushing down another handle and the jet started moving.

I put my headphones in and started listening to the _Girl Stuff Boy Stuff_ theme. I then started singing.

"Callie?" said Kaiba's voice over my fabulous singing voice. Note the immense amount of sarcasm I used there.

"Huh? Oh, sorry Mr. Kaiba, I'll shut up," I said, blushing slightly.

"No, don't. I was going to compliment you. You have a great singing voice," said Kaiba.

"Really? Thanks Sir!" I whispered as more heat crept up my face.

"You can keep singing if you want," he said.

"Oh, okay."

I looked through my playlist, stopped on _You're Not Me_, and started singing it.

After about half an hour of flying, me and Kaiba finally landed on Pegasus' little Fantasy Island.

"Sir? Do you want me to stay in the jet or go with you?" I asked, as Kaiba jumped out of the jet.

"Do whatever you like except get yourself caught by Pegasus' goons. They'll do bad things to you," he said, looking me in the eye.

"On second thought, I'll just stay in here," I said quickly.

"Good idea," said Kaiba, closing the top.

I watched Kaiba disappear into the trees. While wondering what was so important that he would have to go see the creator of Duel Monsters, I started scrolling through my music collection.

After a while, I took out my headphones and looked up. Boy, did I get the shock of my life. There was a goon looking at me through the glass. I let out a squeal of surprise.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" I could hear him say. He had a smirk on his face. He pried open the glass top and slowly climbed in.

"Stay away from me!" I growled, slipping past him and jumping from the jet. I started running. The goon followed.

"Don't think you'll get away from me that easily!" I heard him yell.

"Stay away from-ARGH!"

The goon tackled me and pinned me to the ground.

"I see Seto Kaiba has good tastes. Too bad he won't see you alive when I'm done!" he snarled, running a finger down my jaw line. My eyes widened in realisation.

"Get away from me you bastard!" I yelled right before he hungrily clamped his lips over mine. I managed to get my legs under him and kick him off.

As I got up and began to run away, the guy reached up and grabbed the top of my skirt. My skirt ripped down the side, revealing the waistband of my undies and my thigh. I quickly grabbed hold of the two ripped ends and held them together while running for my life. The goon must have quickly gotten back and started chasing me because I was tackled again. I was too weak to push him off because I was bawling my eyes out. The goon quickly tore off my skirt and undies...


	3. Chapter 3

I woke up and all I saw was white. I heard a soft beeping. I tried to move my hand but I felt a sharp pain. I looked at my hand and saw an IV. I figured I must be in hospital. What I also realised was that there was a hand resting on mine. My eyes trailed up the arm and saw that the hand belonged to none other than Seto Kaiba. He was asleep and his mouth was hanging open slightly. I tried to move my hand, but he kept a tight hold on it. I sat up and with my other hand, reached over and gently closed his mouth. His eyes fluttered open.

"Hello sleepy," I whispered sweetly.

"Me sleepy? You were the one that was out cold for a week!" said Seto, sitting up properly.

"A week!" I said shocked. "I can't even remember what happened. All I remember is blacking out in the control room, and then finding myself on the ground of the Duel Dome, then I collapsed and you caught me, and then this massive dog thing shot a dark energy ball thingy at us and then I blacked out again." I was not gonna tell him about everything that went down with Anubis in the Puzzle. He would freak and tell me I was insane.

"Well, Mokuba told me that you told him to go to a safe place and that if anything happened, he was not to move or I'd fry your ass. Then he saw you collapse in the room and remembering what you told him, he stayed where he was. Pegasus showed up after a while and Mokuba jumped into Pegasus' chopper. He saw the control room come off the roof and when it hit the Pyramid of Light, it exploded and you rolled onto the ground. He couldn't do anything because he was in the chopper," Seto explained. He got off his chair and sat on the bed. He gently cupped my cheek. Butterflies immediately erupted in my stomach. "I'm just glad that you're awake and okay."

He started leaning towards me, but stopped halfway and pulled away. He took his hand off my cheek.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

"Would I be able to ask you a question?" he said, looking back up at me.

"Sure."

"I'm sorry if this sounds wrong because it's my first time and all, but I was wondering if you and I could ever be more than just boss and employee." He said, looking away again.

"What do you mean Seto?" I asked, playing dumb. I knew what he meant. I just wanted him to say it. In all honesty, I was shocked he was even implying it.

"Callie," said Seto, looking back to me. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

I sat there looking thoughtful for a moment, then smiled. "Only if you'll be my boyfriend," I replied with a small smile on my face. I was trying to hide the fact that I wanted to jump around like a lunatic.

"I wouldn't have asked you if I wasn't," he said smartly.

I hit his arm playfully.

"Don't be a smartass!"

"Not my fault my ass has an education," he said cockily.

"You cocky little bastard! That's being a smartass!"

Seto smirked and leaned towards me again. His lips clamped onto mine in a gentle but passionate kiss. He cupped my cheek and I placed a hand on his neck. Seto ran his tongue over my lips, asking for entry and I granted it. His tongue darted in and caressed mine. A moan escaped my throat. I felt Seto smirk against my mouth. I broke away, partly because of lack of air.

"Why were you smirking?" I asked curiously.

"You liked it, didn't you?" was all he said. I turned away and began blushing. "You look cute when you're all embarrassed."

"Don't! You're making it worse!" I yelled angrily.

"Callie, I know we've only known each other for about a week or so and if you don't feel the same way, I understand, but, I really, really like you," said Seto, grabbing my chin and making me look at him.

"Really? You serious?" I asked hopefully.

"As I said, I understand if you-"

"No, no, of course I feel the same way about you! The day I applied for the job as secretary, and even before then, I thought you were the hottest thing since cheesecake! But I didn't try to push the feelings towards you 'cause like, you're Seto Kaiba. People say you're too arrogant - no offence - to like anyone, let alone me," I explained. "I just wanna know if you really mean it or if you're just toying with me."

"My words are genuine," said Seto.

"That's all I need to here," I said, smiling.

I was about to kiss him, but his mobile rang. He answered it and started talking. I did not take any notice of what he was saying, as usual. After a minute, he hung up.

"You know Seto; you aren't supposed to have mobiles turned on in hospitals," I informed him, hitting his arm.

"Oh well. Listen, I've gotta go, there's a problem at KaibaCorp. But I promise I'll come back later, okay?" said Seto.

"Yeah," I replied.

We leaned towards each other and kissed. It was meant to be a quick one but Seto placed his hand on the back of my head so I could not pull away. I was not complaining though. Just as Seto ran his tongue over my lips, a car horn sounded. Seto let go of my head and pulled away.

"I have to go, I'll see you later," Seto whispered, standing up.

"Bye! Don't forget your promise!" I called as he walked out the door. He turned around, smiled at me, and then kept going down the hallway.

"Hey Kaiba!" I heard Joey's voice say. "Is Callie awake?"

"Why don't you see for yourself," said Seto.

A second later, Yugi, Joey, Tristan and Téa walked in.

"Hey guys!" I said happily.

They all said hi and made themselves comfortable around the room; Yugi on the chair Seto was sitting on, Téa on the end of my bed and Joey and Tristan found two more chairs, put them next to Yugi's chair, and sat down. I then noticed something.

"Where's Duke?" They all looked at each other nervously. I just watched then, waiting for an answer. After a minute, I did not get one. "So, are one of you gonna tell me where Duke is or not?"

"Duke's gone. He left three days ago. He said he's sorry but he wanted to see the world before he got into a serious relationship," said Yugi.

"Oh," I muttered. I could not help but feel a little rejected. "That's okay. I didn't expect him to stay when I needed support."

"But you were only knocked unconscious," Tristan said and Téa hit him over the head. "Oww!"

"It's not that!" I said as a single tear ran down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away before they saw it. "Something happened before Yugi and Mr. Kaiba's duel while we were on Pegasus' island. Now, can you all please leave? I need rest."

They all nodded, stood up and walked out the door. I lied down and turned my back on the door. It was like as soon as something good happened in my life, something bad would always follow.

"Stupid Duke!" I muttered angrily. I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

I was woken up by someone complaining just outside my room.

"C'mon Seto! Hurry up! I wanna see Callie!"

"Shush Mokuba, calm down. She's probably asleep."

I slowly sat up, but was then knocked down again by someone jumping on me as they shouted, "Callie!"

"Heh, hey Mokuba," I said, patting his head as he hugged me. He jumped off me and I sat up. Looking around, I saw Seto leaning against the doorframe looking at me with a small smirk on his face. "Hi, Mr. Kaiba. So Mokuba, why were you so eager to see me?"

"I was worried about you and wanted to see you," he said, grinning sheepishly.

"Surely your dear brother over there told you I'm alive and well!" I said, looking towards Seto.

"Yeah, he did, but I still wanted to see you," Mokuba said.

"Awww! That's sweet!"

"I'm sorry for jumping on you," he apologised.

"As I said a week ago, I don't care what you do to me," I said shrugging.

"Mokuba, why don't you go and buy something to eat from the shop," Seto said, holding out a ten-dollar note. I never really understood Japanese money so I always just use Aussie currency because I am a tool.

"Okay!" Mokuba said happily as he walked over to Seto and took the money from him. "I'll be back!" He walked out the door. I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them.

"What's wrong?" Seto asked, walking over and sitting on the bed.

"Nothing," I said, smiling. However, that quickly faded and I looked out the window.

"If nothing's wrong, then why did you seem so indifferent about Mokuba hurting you?" said Seto. I knew he had me there and he obviously did too. "What happened? Have I done anything to upset you?"

I hugged my knees tighter as I said, "Duke's left Domino. He didn't even stick around to see if I was okay. He's probably sold the gaming shop so I haven't got anywhere to stay and-"

"Actually, you could live with me if you wanted," said Seto. "Oh, I almost forgot" He pulled a letter out of his pocket. "Wheeler told me to give this to you," He gave the letter to me.

"Ooohh! I wonder what it says!" I said excitedly. I unfolded the paper and read it.

_Dear Callie, _  
_I am sorry I am not there to give this letter to you in person, but I have to leave immediately. I just wanted to say that you now own my gaming shop and that I am sorry for not staying. I hope you get better._  
_Lots of love_  
_Duke_

"Well, it looks like I'm the proud owner of Duke's Gaming Shop!" I said, folding the letter up and putting it on the cupboard beside my bed.

"So, I guess you won't be coming to live with me," Seto said, sadly.

"Awww! Poor Seto's sad. Don't worry, I'll go home with you every afternoon and go home later so we can spend some time together," I said, patting his thigh. "I like you, Seto."

"I like you too," Seto said, cupping my chin and giving me a passionate kiss. He deepened the kiss by putting his other hand on the back of my head. He broke away while keeping his hand on the back of my head. He leaned down and started kissing my neck. I moaned softly. What? It felt good okay?

"Aw, Seto!" I moaned. I buried my fingers in his hair as he started sucking on my neck.

"I'm back-ARGH!"

I looked towards the door and saw Mokuba standing there, wide-eyed and clutching a packet of chips. I tapped Seto's shoulder and he sat bold upright, looking at Mokuba. We all sat there in an awkward silence for a minute, looking at each other.

"Okay...this silence is really starting to tick me off. So can we please forget about what happened and start talking again?" I pleaded. Seto and Mokuba looked at me and nodded. "Thank you! Now let's never speak of this again. Mokuba, come over here a minute please?"

Mokuba walked over to your bed, sat down on one of the chairs, and opened his packet of chips. I slowly reached over to the packet.

"YOINK!"

"Hey!" Mokuba complained, standing up and trying to reach for them, but I just held them high above my head.

"Nuh uh! You're not getting these back until you let me nick some," I said, shaking my finger in his face.

"Fine!" he sighed as he sat back down. I lowered my hand, pulled some chips out of the packet, and then held the packet in front of Seto.

"You want some?"

"No thanks."

"Okay then. Here Mokuba," I said, handing the chips back to Mokuba.

"So...are you two...going out?" Mokuba asked slowly as I shoved some chips in my mouth.

"Uh..."

"Yes we are!" Seto replied before I could. "Are you okay with that Mokuba?"

"Yeah! Of course I am!" Mokuba shouted happily.

"Ssshhh!"

"Whoops, sorry," Mokuba whispered.

"Whatever, so you're okay with us being together?" I asked hopefully.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"I dunno, maybe you don't like me and you think that I'm not good for your brother-"

"Are you kidding? I love you! I think you're cool! If I was to choose any girlfriend for Seto, I'd pick you for sure!" Mokuba said happily.

"Awww! Did you hear that Seto? Your brother thinks I'm cool! You know, Mokuba, you're the second person that's ever said that to me; the first being Duke," I said, smiling brightly.

"Callie, I was wondering if you could tell me what Duke was talking about when we first met; something about you not being able to look after yourself." Mokuba asked curiously.

That question shocked me. My eyes immediately widened. I brought my knees up to my chest and buried my head in them. I slowly shook my head as tears started to seep down my cheeks.

"Mokuba, come!" I heard Seto bark. I heard footsteps leaving the room. Images flashed through my head. Images of him on top of me...touching me...hurting me… Then I remembered the incident at Pegasus' Island. This make me sob even harder. I heard footsteps enter the room and I felt the bed sink slightly.

"Callie, I'm sorry," I heard Mokuba whisper sadly.

"Don't be Mokuba; it's only natural you'd wanna know. I'd be curious too," I said, lifting my head and looking Mokuba in the eye. He was sitting back in his chair. I pretty much gathered my eyes were red.

"Uh, Mokuba, could you go and get a doctor, please?" Seto asked suddenly. I looked towards him. He was sitting on the edge of my bed. He was staring at me.

"Sure, I'll be right back!" Mokuba said, jumping up from his chair and running out of the room.

Seto moved so he was sitting next to me on the bed. "Hey, come here," he whispered, pulling me onto his lap in a tight embrace. I wrapped my arms around him tightly and sobbed into his chest. He started rubbing my back gently. "Ssshhh, it's okay. I'm here. I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."

"Did you tell Mokuba?" I asked quietly.

"No, I just said that it was too horrible for him to know about and to not bring it up around you because it makes you upset..." Seto murmured in my ear.

"I just wanna die! I don't see the point in living anymore! You, Mokuba, Duke and the gang are the only good things in my life! Mum was too, but now she's gone! Everything else has been just as bad as the last!" I sobbed, pulling away from Seto. "I know I'm probably keeping you from doing your work, so you better go..."

Seto cupped my chin and forced me to look at him. "I don't care if you're keeping me from my work. You're my girlfriend, if something's wrong, I'm going to do something about it!" he said. "You're not mad at Mokuba, are you?"

"Hell no! I could never be mad at him, he's too cute! I really don't think you should stay here because of me...you have work to do..." I said quietly.

"I'm not leaving until I'm satisfied you're happy or, if you're allowed to leave, I'll take you back to KaibaCorp with me!" said Seto.

"Miss Andersen?"

Me and Seto looked towards the door and saw Mokuba and a doctor standing there. Seto let go of my chin.

"Is Callie free to go?" he asked.

"I'll have to check her over and then she's free to go," the doctor said. "You'll have to leave though, Mr. Kaiba."

"Are you gonna be alright?" Seto asked me.

"Yeah, I'll see you in a minute."

He kissed my forehead, stood up and walked out the door. Mokuba followed. The doctor walked up to me and began looking me over.

_I.__ Don't. Like. Guy. Doctors. _I thought bitterly as he lifted my hospital top up and checked my heart beat.

The doctor finished looking at me and said I was free to go. I found my normal clothes in a drawer. Well, my normal clothes minus my skirt. I found my school skirt with my clothes. I got dressed and walked into the waiting room where I found Seto and Mokuba talking.

"Hey you two, ready to go?" I asked loudly, which caught their attention.

"Yeah, we're ready," Mokuba said sadly.

"What's wrong?" I asked with a sad smile.

"Nothing," Mokuba said.

"Oh, Mokuba! I can tell what's wrong. I mean I'm silly, but I'm not stupid. I'm not angry at you for asking me what Duke meant. If I were you, I would've asked too. So don't feel bad, otherwise I'll have to hurt you!" I said with a happy smile. Mokuba laughed a little. "There. Feel better?"

"Yeah, thanks Callie," Mokuba said, standing up. I did too.

"Just tell me when you think I'm angry at you. 'Cause I feel bad knowing that you think I'm mad at you, okay?" I said, looking down at him. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Seto watching me and Mokuba silently.

"Okay," Mokuba said.

"That a boy!" I ruffled his hair. He ran off and I watched him with a smile. I then heard a slight laugh. I turned around and faced Seto. "What?"

"You have a way with kids," he said, standing up and wrapping his arms around me. I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"You really think so?" you asked.

"Yeah."

We leant in to kiss, but were interrupted by a loud cough. I looked around and saw Mokuba standing about five metres away from us, staring with his arms folded. Me and Seto lowered our arms.

"You know, I think I'm gonna get another limo and let you two have one to yourselves!" Mokuba said with a slight laugh.

"C'mon Seto, we better go. You've got work to do at KaibaCorp," I said, pulling on his hand and dragging him down the corridor. I looked behind us and saw Mokuba following, shaking him head in shame. When we got outside, I saw the limo waiting. Seto pulled out his mobile and dialled numbers.

"Bring another limo," he said into it. He hung up and put it back in his pocket. "It'll be here in a minute."

"You know Seto, I was only joking when I said I'll take another limo," Mokuba said.

"Yeah, well, do you really wanna see what we get up to?" Seto asked, smirking.

"Ugh! Gross!" Mokuba yelled as he ran away and hid behind a tree.

"Well, that's gonna keep him away for a minute," Seto said, wrapping his arms around me and I gently placed my hands on his chest. "I like you Cal."

"I like you too Seto," I whispered back cutely.

He covered my mouth with his in a passionate kiss. He pulled me closer to him. Just as I was about to move my hands to his hair, a voice interrupted.

"Urgh! Seto! Callie! Stop making out!" Mokuba yelled, coming out from behind the tree. We broke apart just as the other limo pulled up. "I'll see you both later!" Mokuba jumped into the limo and drove away. Seto grabbed my hand, dragged me to the waiting limo and opened the door.

"Ladies first," he said.

"Thank you Mr. Kaiba," I said, all professional-like. I stepped inside and Seto followed.

"Where to, Sir?" the driver asked.

"Cal, where do you wanna go?" Seto asked me.

"Well," I said thoughtfully, "if you wanna go back to KaibaCorp, I guess I'll go with you... but if you don't want me to, I'll just go back to the game shop."

"Max, to KaibaCorp!"

"Yes Sir!" the driver said.

"Are you sure you want me to go to KaibaCorp with you?" you asked.

"Even if I didn't want you to come, you'd still have to; you're my personal assistant," Seto said, brushing a few strands of my hair behind my ear.

"I have one question Seto; why'd you call me Cal before we kissed at the hospital?"

"Don't you like my pet name for you?" he asked.

"I do, I was just wondering why. The last person that called me that was my mum. Now, I've gotta make a pet name for you. Hmmm..." I continued thinking for about three seconds before I came up with one. "I know! How about Set?"

"Uh, I don't know" Seto said uncertainly.

"Oh c'mon! You call me Cal 'cause it's an abbreviation of my name and I'll call you Set 'cause it's an abbreviation of yours!" I explained.

"I don't call you that just because it's an abbreviation."

"Is it 'cause I'm pretty and it represents me?" I asked excitedly.

"No... It's not because you're pretty."

"I know I'm not pretty...I'm ugly."

"You're not ugly either. You're beautiful. That's why I'm going to call you Cal," he murmured as he brought his lips down on mine.

I raised my hands to Seto's hair and ran my fingers through it. I heard Seto push something, and then I heard a buzzing sound. I pulled away and saw that screen thing that separates the driver from the rest of the limo start to rise. I shrugged and pushed my lips against Seto's again. He pushed me down onto the seat as he slipped his tongue into my mouth. I moaned into the kiss. He ran his hands up and down my sides as he broke the kiss and moved down to my neck. I moaned loudly as he started sucking on it.

I felt the limo stop. Seto stopped sucking on my neck but kept his lips there. After a second, he slowly pulled away.

"We're at KaibaCorp Sir," said Max.

"Right," Seto said as he got off me. I sat up as he got out. He helped me out.

"Thank you Mr. Kaiba," I said, smiling.

"You're welcome Miss Andersen," Seto responded. We both walked into KaibaCorp, still holding hands. We entered the elevator and waited for the doors to close.

"Seto, I have to know..." I stated as the elevator began its accent to the top of KaibaCorp. "Why did you choose me to be your girlfriend? You could have any girl in the world, and yet you chose me. Why?"

"I don't know. I guess something draws me to you. I have no idea what it is, but I'm glad it's drawing me to you because I don't want to be with anyone else," he said as the elevator doors opened.

"Do you really mean that?" I asked hopefully.

"Of course I mean it!" Seto said, pulling me against his chest.

_Ooh goddamn he feels good _I mentally drooled as I looked up at him.

"I like you and nothing is ever going to change that." He lightly kissed me and then pulled away. He let go of me and walked out of the elevator. I followed.

"Oh Mr. Kaiba! There's a Mr. Devlin on the line for Miss Andersen," said the new secretary. Her name was Tilly. She had bright blue eyes, long grey/brown hair pulled back in two pony tails and wore Japanese style clothing.

"She'll take it in my office," Seto said, grabbing my hand and pulling me into his office. I ran over to the phone and lifted the receiver. Duke's head appeared on the screen.

"Hey Duke!" I said happily as Seto sat next to me in his chair and began to work.

"Hey Callie. Did you get the letter I gave to Joey?" Duke asked.

"Yeah. But you still could've stayed in Domino until I woke up so I could've said I proper goodbye!" I complained, jumping up and down slightly with anime waterfall tears.

"I'm really sorry," Duke said with an apologetic smile.

"Meh. Anyway, where are you?"

"I'm in Russia."

"RUSSIA!" I screamed, which caused Duke to drop the phone. I had always wanted to go to Russia. I heard Seto make an 'Oof' sound. I looked around and saw that he was on the floor. "Oh shit! Sorry Mr Kaiba!" I put the receiver down and helped Seto up. "I'm really sorry!"

"It's right. Just don't scream that loud next time Miss Andersen," Seto said, sitting back down and continuing his work. I quickly picked up the receiver and looked at the screen where Duke was wide-eyed.

"What's up with you?" he asked.

"My life-long dream is to go to Russia. You fulfilled my dream before I could. Ooohh, I hate you so much Duke Devlin! . " I said.

"I could send you a ticket and you could come here?" Duke suggested.

"Hmm! That's a good idea. When will you send me a ticket?" I asked.

"I can go buy one as soon as we've finished talking then I'll send it tomorrow."

"Aaaahhh! I love you Duke! Thank you!" I squealed happily.

"I love you too."

"Come on Miss Andersen!" Seto said angrily. I poked my tongue out at him. He reached over and patted me on the head, then returned to his work.

"Hey Cal, can I ask you something?" Duke asked suddenly.

"Didn't give me much choice did you, mate?" I said smartly

"-_- Anyway... Is there something going on between you and Kaiba?"

This question startled me. I decided not to tell Duke about Seto and myself.

"Nope," I lied, happily, "Nothing at all. He just likes to treat me like a kid."

"Hmm... Okay, I'll see you soon! Bye Callie!"

"Bubye!" I hung up, and then rounded on Seto. "I was having a good chat with Duke before you interrupted!" I pouted.

"Oh well. It's not my loss," Seto said, still typing on his computer.

"Oh, you are so mean!" I commented.

"I know. Anyway, just so you know, you're not going to Russia."

"Why?"

"Because you're not allowed to," Seto said.

"Aww! But Russia-"

"No buts! You're not going!"

"But Duke's going to buy tickets! And you can't get refunds on them!" I retorted.

"When the ticket gets here, I'll send Devlin a cheque for the price of it," Seto explained.

"Fine," I sighed angrily. I hated when I lost. "Now, is there anything you want me to do?"

"You can give me a kiss," Seto said, looking up at me. I couldn't resist the look he was giving me. I leaned in and kissed him sweetly on the lips. Then the phone rang.

"What is it?" Seto growled after he picked up the receiver.

"Uh, you're got a meeting in five minutes, Sir."

"Alright, I'm coming now!" He hung up. "I've got a meeting to go to so I'll see you later." Seto stood up, kissed me on the cheek and walked out.


	4. Chapter 4

I could not find anything to do so. So I improvised. I raided Seto's desk drawers. Man that was fun...not. All I found was work, work, and more bloody work. So I decided to lay down on the lounge and I eventually fell asleep.

I was sort of woken up by someone poking me. I say sort of because I was not exactly awake. I was half asleep. I groaned and frowned.

"Wakie, wakie Callie!" they said.

"Go away! I don't wanna go to work, Brad touches me!" I mumbled angrily.

"Caledonia! Get up!" a more strong voice said.

"Huh?" I opened my eyes and came face to face with Mokuba. Boy did that scare the living daylights out of me. "ARGH!" I screamed as I sat bolt upright. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry," Mokuba apologised.

"It's okay Mokuba," I said, looking towards Seto's desk where he was working. "Hey Seto. How long have you two been here?"

"I've been here for about an hour and Seto got back about five minutes ago," Mokuba replied.

"Oh. I'm a really sucky PA aren't I Seto?" I commented.

"No you're not," Seto said.

"Yes I am! Anyway, I'm still tired. I'm gonna go home. So I'll see you two tomorrow!" I said, standing up and walking towards the door.

"Callie, I want you to take a limo," Seto said as I reached the door.

"Nay, it's right Seto. I'll walk. I need the exercise anyway. Hooroo!" I called as I walked out the door and closed it behind me.

It was always nice to walk around the streets at night. But not when a car had been following you ever since you stepped outside. As soon as I had left KaibaCorp, a white Toyota Corolla had been following me. I just kept walking. I did not want to call Seto because I knew he would have had a go at me for going off by myself. When I was about two blocks away from the game shop, the Corolla pulled up beside me.

"Hey cutie!" a boy called as he wound down the window. I looked towards him. He had blue eyes and black, spiky hair. "Come with me and I'll give you the time of your life."

"No thanks, I'm cool!" I said and kept walking. I heard the car pull to a stop and a door opening, then closing. I turned around and saw the boy walking towards me. He was really tall...well, taller than me anyway.

"Come on sweetheart. I'm not gonna hurt you, or maybe a bit when it goes in," he said, still walking towards me as I backed away.

_I am NOT getting raped again!_ I thought stubbornly.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not going with you. So you may as well stop trying to get me in your car!" I said, turning around and starting to run. I looked back over my shoulder and saw the dude hot on my trail.

"Aww shitsticks!" I shouted, putting on a spurt of speed.

_Please let someone run into me or something! Anything to stop this guy from getting his hands on me!_ I mentally pleaded. I mean, let's face it, who wants to be raped…well in my case, again?

Just as I had thought that, a black limo drove past and pulled up about fifty metres in front of me. The door opened and I was happy to see Seto quickly climb out.

"Callie!"

"Seto! Help me!" I yelled, getting closer to the limo. Seto moved out of the way and I quite literally dove in. He got in after me and told Max to drive. We both sat in silence... that is if you do not count the amount of noise I was making trying to catch my breath.

"Are you okay?" Seto asked after a while.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. I should've used the limo like you told me to," I said quietly, looking out the window. I felt my case, again? to be raped? to be raped? Seto move closer to me and put his hand on my thigh.

"I'll agree with you on that one, but it doesn't matter now. All that matters to me is that you're safe," he said, cupping my chin and turning my head to look at him. He kissed me lightly, and then pulled me into a loose hug. "I like you Cal."

"I like you too, Set," I said, giggling at my pet name for him.

"You know, I never agreed to you calling me that," Seto said.

"Fine then, I won't call you anything! You can just be plain old Seto," I said, pulling away.

"I'm fine with that," he said.

"Or...I could just call you Seth!" I said happily.

Seto sighed. "What am I gonna do with you?" he asked.

"Love me, feed me, and never leave me!" I said, laying my head on his chest and looking up at him.

"That was a rhetorical question."

"I don't care if it was or not. I still told you what you can do with me," I commented. The limo stopped. I looked out the window and saw that we were out the front of Duke's game shop. WHOOPS! Correction...MY game shop.

"Will you be right by yourself?" Seto asked as I climbed out.

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Oh, here's your bag from last week..." Seto reached under the seat and pulled out my school bag. "Your old skirt is in it."

"Oh, I forgot about that. Thanks Seto!" I took it off him and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you."

I did not bother getting something to eat when I walked inside. I pulled my skirt out of my bag and spent half an hour trying to stitch it back up. I managed to get it looking like new. When I finished I walked upstairs and went to bed.

A week later and Seto and I were still going strong. Seto was in a meeting with a representative from another company and I had decided to go and see if Mokuba wanted to go to the arcade or something.

I left Seto's office and walked down to the conference room where Seto was meeting the rep. I wanted to let him know I was leaving. The rep was a girl mind you. I did not even think to knock so I just opened the door. Boy, did I get the shock of my life when I saw what was in front of me. Seto and the rep were standing there...kissing. Seto looked like he was enjoying it. They did not even hear me. I felt my heart break into little pieces.

"I'm sorry Mr Kaiba. I didn't know you were busy. I'll just leave!" I said loudly, walking back out the door and slamming it shut. I ran down the hall to the elevator. I heard Seto calling out to me as the doors opened. I ran in and the last thing I saw before the doors closed was Seto's horrified face. I pressed all the buttons of the elevator, sank to the floor, against the wall, and started sobbing. "Stupid bastard! Why didn't I see this coming?"

I sat there for about half an hour before the elevator doors opened. I stood up, ran outside and whom should I run into, but Seto Kaiba.

"Ah, Callie..." he said, reaching out to touch my shoulder, but I shoved his hand away.

"DONT touch me Kaiba!" I growled.

"Callie, please! We need to talk!" Seto pleaded as I began to walk away.

"I don't have anything to say to you Kaiba, so just leave me alone!" I said as I continued walking.  
Seto called after me, but I ignored him.

I wondered around Domino for a few hours until I came across a body-piercing salon. I had been waiting to get my belly button done for a while, so I walked in. Plus, the physical pain would help cover the emotional pain for a while.

I walked out of the salon with my belly button pierced. My belly bar had a scorpion on it to represent Scorpio, which was my star sign. My birthday was in two weeks on the 14th of November. I headed back to KaibaCorp and when I got there, I walked up to the front desk and asked for a resignation form. I filled it out there and then. Then I went to the elevator and travelled to the top floor. When it reached that level, I walked up to Tilly's desk.

"Oh, hello Miss Andersen," she greeted happily.

"Hey, um, would you be able to give this to Kaiba?" I asked, holding out my resignation form. She took it off me and read it. Her eyes widened.

"Why are you quitting?"

"Let's just say I caught Kaiba doing something and I'll never forgive him for it," I said, narrowing my eyes slightly.

While I was standing there, Tilly must have caught sight of my belly button because she stood up and said excitedly, "Oh my god! I love your belly bar! You didn't have it this morning did you?"

"Nah, I just got it done. The main reason I got a scorpion is to represent my star sign."

"Oh, so you're a Scorpio. When's your birthday?"

"Two weeks from now on the 14th of November."

"Oh. Are you sure you want to quit?" Tilly asked.

"Yeah. You won't see my face around here anymore. I'll see you round Tilly!" I said, giving her a two-finger salute and walking off.

"Bye Miss-"

"It's Callie!" I called over my shoulder.

"Bye Callie!" Tilly shouted.

I heard a door open, voices talking, and then a loud 'Callie!' I bolted to the elevator but just as I got to the doors, someone pulled me back and turned me to face them. I should not have to tell you it was Seto.

"Callie, please listen to me!" Seto pleaded, bending his knees a bit so that his eyes were level with mine. Heh, let's face it; he had to bend down a fair bit.

"Fine! I'll listen to you! But make it snappy; I've got things to do!" I said irritably.

"Can we go into my office?" he asked.

"No. I'm fine to hear whatever you have to say right here!" I replied, getting out of his grasp and folding my arms. "So hurry up."

"Callie, I'm really sorry-"

"Do me a favour Kaiba and not start with I'm sorry. One of my old boyfriends did that and he ended up with my knee in his crotch," I explained angrily.

"But I really am! I got up to explain what the papers were about to Torey, and then she stood up and started kissing me. I didn't have time to register what she was doing. I'm sorry," Seto said sadly.

"You didn't have to get up and show her. There were plenty of other ways you could've shown her!" I retorted.

"I know. I'm really sorry!"

_How many times has he said that?_ I though

"Just please, don't resign!" he said, reaching up to touch my cheek, but I backed away.

"I'll think about it. Bye Kaiba." I walked into the elevator and the doors closed behind my, leaving a shocked Seto standing there.

It had been two weeks since I last spoke to Seto. I would walk past KaibaCorp every now and again and the majority of the time, I met Seto. He tried to get me to talk to him, but I just ignored him and kept walking. Every time I did that, I would have a horrible sensation in my gut that would not go away. I also hung around the gang a lot and noticed Joey starting to act really strange around me.

"Téa...please...no more...you're the Queen!" I panted loudly as I fell to my knees. The gang were at the arcade and Téa had beaten me on DDR for the fifth time in a row. I won the first two rounds, which I was pretty proud of. We had been at it pretty much ever since we arrived at 11am. It was about 2pm when she flogged me for the fifth time.

"C'mon Callie! Please, just one more round! I'm begging you!" Téa whined.

"No, Téa! Get Joey or someone to go up against you; I'm too tired!"

"Now that you've mentioned Joey, have you noticed that he acts really weird when he talks to you?" she asked in just above a whisper.

"Yeah, actually. Whenever I try to talk to him...he gets really jumpy and nervous. Heh, he reminds me of how I acted when I..." I trailed off, suddenly thinking of something. "He likes me!"

"Huh?"

"He likes me! He's acting just like I did when I liked someone back in Australia. Considering all the boys I ever liked were the emo bad boys and acted like they hated everyone. They'd talk to me now and again but I wouldn't look them in the eyes or I'd just run away. I was too scared to say anything 'cause I thought if I said anything, I would've said something stupid and made myself look like an idiot," I explained.

After that, a thought occurred to me. Joey had rung me at KaibaCorp so he could ask me something. Maybe he was going to ask me out? And I had cut him off.

"Maybe that's how Joey feels," Téa suggested, shrugging.

"Maybe. But I wouldn't care if he said something stupid. I mean, I do it all the time!" I said. I turned around and saw the gang walking up to me and Téa. "We'll talk about this later," I whispered. Téa nodded.

"Hey guys!" Yugi greeted.

"Hey," Téa and I greeted back. "Hey Joey!" I added and waved at him. He turned bright red, waved, and then looked at the ground.

_He must be real shy when it comes to girls, _I thought, slightly amused.

"Me and the guys were thinking about going to Village Hot Bake to get something to eat," Yugi said.

"Oh cool. We'll come!" Téa said happily.

"You can go Téa, but I've gotta go somewhere. I gotta sort some things out. So, I'll see ya'll later!" I said, giving them a two finger salute, and then walking away. As I walked out the doors of the arcade, I heard a voice call out to me from behind. I turned around and saw Joey running up to me. "Hey Joey," I said when he stopped in front of me.

"Hey Callie. Um, I was wonderin' ... if you had a ... boyfriend?" he asked nervously, while putting his hand on the back of his head.

"Uh..." I thought about Seto for a minute, but then the kissing scene with him and the rep sprung into mind. "No, why?'

"Well, I was wonderin' if you would consider comin to the movies with me?" he asked quietly.

"Of course Joey! But I gotta do something first. It shouldn't take me too long. So how about we meet at the movies in say...ooh...half an hour?" I suggested while shrugging.

"Okay, I'll see you then!" Joey said happily and ran back into the arcade. I faced the other side of the street and looked up. I saw the top of KaibaCorp. It was about two blocks away so I started walking.

It only took you five minutes to reach KaibaCorp. I walked up to Tilly's desk.

"Hi Tilly!" I said cheerfully.

She looked up. "Oh, hey Callie!" she smiled.

"Is Kaiba in?"

"Yeah, but I think he said he doesn't want to be disturbed," she said. "Do you want me to ask him if you can go in?"

I nodded and Tilly pushed a button.

"What is it? I said I didn't want to be disturbed," I heard Seto's voice say angrily.

_You are such a cranky bastard!_ I though.

"Miss Andersen is here to see you sir," Tilly said sweetly.

"Let her in," he sighed.

"Yes Sir!" Tilly said, letting go of the button.

"Thanks Tilly!" I said, walking towards Seto's office door. I slowly opened the door and then was pulled in and the door closed behind me. A pair of lips came down on mine in a passionate kiss. I immediately knew it was Seto just be the way he kissed. I tried to pull away but Seto just held onto me tighter. Finally, I managed to break free. "Please don't do that!" I growled, backing away from him. "I only came here to tell you that I'm not quitting'. But that does NOT mean that we're back together! Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date to get to."

I turned around and was about to put my hand on the door handle, when Seto asked, "With who?"

"Oh you know him. A young man by the name of Joseph Wheeler," I said, turning my head slightly to see Seto's shocked face.

"You're going out with Wheeler?" he growled angrily.

"Hey, I wouldn't even be going out with someone else if you hadn't of kissed another woman!" I shouted at him.

"I told you! It wasn't my fault! She just threw herself at me!" he shot back with equal force.

"And yet you let yourself kiss her back! You know I thought you were different from all my old boyfriends, but you're just like them! Now if you'll excuse me, my date awaits!" I said walking out the door.

I arrived at the movies 20 minutes later and saw Joey leaning against a wall, just looking at the ground.

"Hey Joey!" I called in a singsong voice.

He looked up and smiled. "Hey Callie!" he said. "Ready?"

"Yep! What movie are we seeing?" I asked, as we walked inside. He handed me a ticket. I took one look at it and I went pale. "_Alien Vs Predator_?"

"Yeah, I really wanna see it...you don't mind, do you?" he asked uncertainly.

"Of course I don't," I lied.

The truth was I was terrified of any sort of alien movie except for Evolution. They really gave me the willies. However, seeing as though Joey really wanted to see the movie, I decided that I would not say anything. We both found seats right up the back. The cinema was virtually packed. I had bought a small popcorn and a large Coke. And Joey...well, he bought an extra large popcorn, a big packet of chips and a large Coke. I was still looking at him in shock. He shoved a handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"-_- How are you gonna eat all that?" I asked when the previews for other movies started.

"I have a big appetite, I'll manage," he replied, shoving another handful of popcorn into his mouth.

"I always wonder how you can eat so much and yet you don't gain an ounce!" I said, staring at him.

"It's called metabolism!" Joey said through a mouthful of food. I had a face like O.o. He swallowed his food and continued as the movie started, "I eat a healthy breakfast. Eating breakfast kick-starts your metabolism."

During the movie, whenever a scary part came up, I jumped and grabbed the closest thing to me, which happened to be Joey's arm. I do not know what Joey must have thought when I buried me head in his chest but he wrapped his arms around me. I was very comfortable. I think I only saw about 20 minutes of the entire movie. Joey did not seem to mind me being in his arms either. When the movie finished, we got up and quickly got out before everyone else did.

Joey and I arrived at the Game Shop and we stopped under a streetlight.

"I had a really good time Joey, considering I had my head buried in your chest for most of the movie," I said, blushing slightly.

"I don't mind; I like havin' you close to me," Joey said, wrapping his arms around my waist. He pulled me close to him. He covered my lips with his in a sweet and gentle kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck, pulling him closer. He was a good kisser, but nothing like Seto.

I broke away from Joey. He brushed some stray strands of hair out of my face.

"I'll see you tomorrow after work," I whispered, turning around and walking towards the shop. I unlocked the door, walked inside and closed the door behind me. I looked out and saw Joey walking away with his hands in his pockets. I smiled and touched my lips. For a split second, an image of Seto appeared in my mind. I roughly shook my head.

_Why is he in my head? We're not together anymore!_ I thought angrily. I walked upstairs to my room without any tea. I flopped onto my bed and fell asleep almost instantly.


	5. Chapter 5

I woke up the next morning to the sound of my alarm going off. I turned it off, got up and headed for the shower with a smile on my face. It was my 17th birthday. Usually, my showers last about half an hour, but this one only lasted 10 minutes. I washed myself and jumped out. I got dressed into my usual attire. When I was just about to leave, the phone rang. I ran over and answered it.

"Yellow?"

"Hey Callie?"

It was Mokuba and he did not sound too good.

"Mokuba? What's wrong?" I asked worriedly.

"I feel really sick. Can you come over?" he asked in a strained voice.

"Yes! Of course! Is your brother there?"

"No, he's at KaibaCorp."

_Typical!_ I thought angrily. "Okay, I'll be there in a min! Just hold on Mokuba!" I said and hung up. I ran around the shop and into the garage where Duke's Eclipse was parked. I found the keys in the glove box. _Duke you are such an idiot!_ I started up the engine, backed out of the garage and drove down the street. I vaguely remembered where the Kaiba house was but not properly, so I just looked for the biggest house in Domino. Eventually, I found it.

"Holy shitsticks!" I muttered, pulling up out the front. Of course I had already seen it before, but the sheer size of it still amazed me. "Lucky bastards! Wish I had a house this bloody big!" I jumped out of the car, walked through the front gates and up to the front door. I rang the doorbell. A second later, a butler opened the door.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"I'm here to see Mokuba. He told me to come over here immediately," I answered.

"Oh, come in Miss Andersen," he said, stepping aside.

"Thanks. Uhh..."

"He was in the bathroom last I checked Miss," the butler said before I could ask. "The doctor is coming and so is Mr Kaiba."

I nodded and ran upstairs. The first door I came across was the bathroom. I walked in and saw Mokuba hunched over the toilet. "Oh Mokuba!" I ran over to him and held his hair back. I started rubbing his back with my other hand. "Just hold on Mokuba, the doctor's coming now," I said, soothingly.

He suddenly sat up, scaring the shit out of me. He looked at me as I flushed the toilet. "Why aren't you talking to Seto?" he asked. Well that question caught me off guard. I wasnot expecting him to be so forward with it. "And why did you quit KaibaCorp?"

"We had a fight, but don't worry, I'm still working there. And even though I'm not talking to your brother, I'll still talk and hang out with you," I explained as Mokuba vomited in the toilet again.

_C'mon you bloody doctor!_ I yelled in my head, watching the door closely.

"I'm sorry for calling you. You can go if you want. I'm sure you've got important things to do than watch me hurl," Mokuba said shakily.

"Mokuba, I was only going to work. Besides, nothing is more important to me than your wellbeing. You're sick and I'm gonna do everything I can to make you feel better."

Just then, the door opened and a man walked in. "I'm here to see Mokuba," he said.

"Okay. C'mon Mokuba, let's get you to your room," I said, helping him up. I flushed the toilet again and walked Mokuba out of the bathroom. He directed me to his room and I laid him down on the bed.

"I'll see if I can find a bucket," I said, turning around and walking towards the door. I walked down to the bathroom and found a bucket in the corner. I picked it up and walked downstairs. I approached the butler.

"Can I help you Miss?" he drawled.

"Uh, would you be able to ring Mokuba's brother and tell him to get his ass here now? You'd think he'd be here by now," I said, shaking my head.

"Right away Miss," the butler said kindly, walking towards the phone.

I walked back upstairs. As I reached Mokuba's room, the doctor walked out and closed the door behind him.

"What's wrong with him?" I asked quietly.

"He's got a virus. A few days rest and he'll be as good as new," he said, smiling.

"Oh, ok, thanks."

The doctor walked down the stairs. I slowly opened the door, walked in and closed it behind me. Mokuba was lying on his side, facing the opposite wall. I walked up to his bed, put the bucket down and sat down on the side of the bed. I started stroking his hair. He looked up at me, and I smiled slightly.

When I finished singing, I saw that Mokuba was asleep. I smiled and kissed him on the forehead. I got up and just as I was about to open the door, it opened. This caused me to jump back in fright. There stood Seto Kaiba.

"Hello Kaiba," I said stiffly

"Callie, what are you doing here? You should be at KaibaCorp," Seto said, walking into the room.

"Your brother called me just as I was about to leave home. He said he felt sick and asked me to come around so I did," I responded defensively. "Well, seeing as though I'm not needed any more, I'm gonna go."

"No! Don't go Callie!" a small voice sounded behind me. I turned around and saw Mokuba sitting up in bed, looking at me and Seto.

"Your brother doesn't want me here. Please get better Mokuba. And no wandering around. Stay in bed and get some rest. I'll see you the next time I see you..." I walked around Seto and before I completely passed him, he grabbed my arm. "Let go Kaiba."

"Callie, I don't want you to leave; I have to talk to you," he said.

"Nothing you have to say will take my interest Kaiba. Now let me go," I growled.

"Not until you listen to what I have to say," Seto said simply.

"If you don't let go, I'll tell Mokuba what you did to make us fight," I snarled. He did not let go. In fact, his grip tightened. "Fine! Mokuba, the reason me and your brother are fighting is cause I caught him kissing another girl!

The next thing I knew, my cheek was stinging. Seto had let go of my arm and slapped me across the face very hard. It did not feel like a slap, it felt like a bloody punch. Nevertheless, I did not show my pain. Instead, I smirked.

"Aw, is Kaiba mad 'cause I told Mokuba something he didn't want him to know? Did I ruin the perfect image you try to portray to your brother?" I taunted. Seto slapped me again.

"Seto stop!" Mokuba yelled, getting out of bed.

"GET OUT!" Seto yelled at me.

"YES SIR!" I said, saluting him. "I'll see you around Mokuba!"

I walked out of the room, down the stairs and out the front door. Tears streamed down my face as I walked out the gates. I jumped into the car and drove off.

I drove past the arcade and saw the gang walking out. I looked in my rear view mirror and saw them look at each other, and then run in the direction I was driving. I pulled up at the game shop, jumped out and ran into the house. Once I reached the kitchen, I grabbed an icepack, and then ran up to my room. I went into the en suite and grabbed a face cloth. I looked in the mirror and froze at what I saw. My cheek was badly bruised. I wrapped it around the icepack and placed it on my cheek. It was still throbbing in pain. I walked over to my bed and lay on my side so I would not have to hold the icepack in place. Tears were still streaming from my eyes.

"Hey Callie?" I heard Joey's voice call from the other side of the door.

"Go away!" I shouted. I heard the door open anyway and then close.

"Why do you have an icepack on your cheek?" Yugi's voice asked. I sat up and as I did, the icepack slid off my face. I saw the gang standing there with shocked faces.

"Oh my god, Callie, what happened?" Téa asked, running over and sitting next to you.

"I don't wanna talk about it," I muttered.

Joey walked over and kneeled down in front of me. "Who did this to you?" he asked, sounding concerned.

Before I could say anything, the door to my room opened again and Seto stood there.

"What the..."

"What are you doin' here Kaiba?" Joey asked, standing up to face him.

"I should be asking you lot the same question but I'm not going to. I'm here to speak to Callie," Seto replied. "So can you all leave?"

The gang looked towards me. I nodded slowly. "You lot can go pick something out from the shop," I said, looking down at the floor. I heard footsteps, then the door closing. I kept my head down as footsteps approached me.

"Callie, I'm really sorry about slapping you," I heard Seto say.

"It's okay Kaiba," I said looking up at him. His eyes widened in shock.

"It's okay? Of course it's not okay, Callie! Look at your cheek!" he said, sitting down beside me. He gently grabbed my chin and turned my head so he could get a good look at my cheek. He gently touched it. I hissed sharply and pulled away.

"How can you possibly be sorry? Just because I told Mokuba what you did, doesn't mean you had the right to lay a finger on me!" I shouted, standing up and looking down at him. "Now thanks to you, I've got a massive bruise on my face that's probably not gonna go away for a bloody month!"

"Callie, I know you're upset-"

"Upset? No, I'm more than upset...I'm angry, I'm confused... You know, I probably would've forgiven you in a few weeks for kissing that girl, but now...I don't know if being anywhere near you is a good idea. Now that you've hit me, I don't know if I'll ever be able to forgive you."

Just then, the phone rang. I answered it and sat down. I liked the phone in my room. It was a video phone, kind of like the one Seto had at KaibaCorp.

"Hello?" A picture of Duke appeared. "Oh. Hey Russia Boy!"

"Hey Cal! Happy birthday!" Duke said smiling.

I had a face like ^-^. "Aw, thanks Duke! It would've been a lot better if you were here to celebrate with me! No-one knows it's my birthday-"

"Caledonia, what the hell happened to your face?" Duke asked, putting his face closer to the screen.

"I'll tell you later. Anyway, as I was saying, I haven't told anyone it's my birthday so I had to get myself a birthday present," I said proudly.

"What'd you get?"

"I got my bellybutton done!" I said happily, standing up so Duke could see my scorpion belly bar.

"Oh so when did you get that done?" Duke asked.

"Two weeks ago."

"So why didn't you tell anyone about your birthday?"

"Well, 'cause I didn't want anyone to think that I was bragging," I said, hanging my head.

"Don't worry, I'll send you something. So, you found yourself a boyfriend yet?" Duke asked casually.

"You know, you've been asking a lot of questions mate. Well, me and Joey are sort of getting close. We went to the movies last night and well...we...kissed."

"Well, well, well, it seems like little Callie Wallie has found herself a man!" Duke mocked.

"DONT CALL ME THAT! I don't know whether I wanna go out with him though. I've kinda got someone else in mind..."

"Who? Tristan?" Duke asked, sounding surprised.

"What? No! GOD NO! Besides, it's none of your business!"

"Are you alone?" Duke asked suddenly.

"Yeah, why?" I asked suspiciously. I had totally forgotten that Seto was in the room at that time. So naturally, I didn't know he was listening to the whole conversation.

"I've got a girlfriend and I need advice on how to get her...'in the mood'."

"Okay, and why are you asking me this? You barely know the girl!" I said, kind of freaked out with a face like O.o

"I know her pretty well actually. I met her three years ago. She's my pen pal and she came to visit last year. And seeing as though you're a girl, you should know how a girl is turned on," Duke said shyly.

I went wide eyed. "I still say you're crazy for asking me this but...if I had a boyfriend, I would like him to set up a romantic dinner for two...preferably a picnic dinner on the beach or in the middle of a clearing in a forest or something. Then I'd want them to take me back to their place, have some romantic music playing...not old shit, I'm talking Bryan Adams, Aerosmith, that sort of thing...then take it from there," I explained. I then sighed dreamily.

"You put a lot of thought into that, didn't you?" Duke asked with a slight laugh.

"Hey, I'm a girl. It's what we do."

"Thanks Callie! I better go...can you please tell me who did that to you?" Duke said, referring to my cheek.

"Kaiba."

"WHAT? WHY I OUGHTA-"

"Duke! It's okay, just calm down and don't worry about it. I'll see you later," I said.

"Yeah, see you, Cal."

I hung up and sighed.

"Well that was one very interesting conversation."

"ARGH! HOLY SHIT! Don't scare me like that! Wait..." That was when I realised he was there the whole time.

_He heard what I said! THAT'S SOOOO EMBARRASSING!_

"Callie, will you forgive me for slapping you and for kissing Torey?" Seto asked, putting his hand on my good cheek.

Before I could answer, Seto's lips covered mine in a passionate kiss. I could not help but kiss him back. He pushed me down onto the bed and climbed on top of me without breaking the kiss. His tongue pushed through my lips and explored my mouth. I moaned into his mouth. I reached up and ran my hands through his hair. He reached up under my shirt and began caressing my breasts. He then trailed one of his hands down to my thigh where he lightly squeezed it. I broke the kiss from lack of air.

"Forgive you completely," I said, slightly dazed. Seto smirked. He leaned in to kiss me again, but the door opened.

We looked towards the door and saw the gang standing there wide-eyed. Seto quickly got off me and I stood up.

"Uh, did we interrupt something?" Téa asked.

"Well, yeah, but it's cool. So..." I trailed off.

"We got what we want and..." Yugi said, looking at the others.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" they shouted.

_Duke..._ I thought with a smirk.

"Thanks guys," I said, standing up.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Joey asked, sounding a bit sad.

"I don't know..." I said, "Anyway, you lot don't have to pay for the things you want."

"You sure?" asked Tristan.

"Yep."

"Well, I guess we better go. See you Callie. Bye Kaiba," Yugi said, waving. I waved back and mouthed,

"I'm sorry" to Joey. He just looked away and walked out. The others followed.

"Don't you gotta go back to work?" I asked, turning to Seto.

"Yeah, but I'm only going if you come with me," Seto said, standing up and facing me.

"After what happened this morning I didn't think you'd want me working for you," I said, looking away.

"Of course I'd want you working for me," Seto murmured, tilting my chin up to look at him. "By the way, happy birthday..." He pulled out a small box and handed it to me. I opened it and almost dropped it.

Inside it was a beautiful gold ring with a heart-shaped amethyst stone and two little diamonds on either side of it.

"Oh my God Seto! It's gorgeous!" I gasped dramatically.

"I was going to use it as a forgiveness present, but I think I like it better as a birthday present," he said, taking the box out of my fingers. He pulled the ring out and gently took hold of my right hand. He slipped the ring onto my ring finger. "Perfect," he murmured, kissing my knuckles.

"Seto, I'm really sorry about not listening to you when-" I was cut off by Seto putting a finger over my lips.

"It doesn't matter now," he whispered. He replaced his finger with his lips in a soft but passionate kiss. He pushed me back and we both fell onto the bed. I started tugging on his battle city trench. I got it off and threw it onto the floor. Seto moved his lips from mine and went to my neck. He started sucking it lightly. I moaned slightly. Seto pulled my top up over my head and started sucking on my neck hard. I moaned loudly. I yanked Seto's top off him, revealing his faint six-pack.

"Someone's been working out," I smirked breathlessly, running my fingers down his stomach and stopping at the top of his pants.

"Of course," he murmured, kissing me passionately. He pulled me up so the both of us were on our knees. His hands fumbled around my back, looking for the clip of my bra. Just as he was about to unhook it, his mobile rang from inside his trench. He sighed in irritation and got off the bed. I sat on my legs and Seto searched through his pockets. He found it and answered. "Kaiba...yes Mokuba, I did...I guess...I'll think about it, bye."

"What did Mokuba want?" I asked.

"He just wanted to know whether I apologised or not," he answered carelessly. "He also wants a friend over but I'll give him an answer when I get to KaibaCorp."

"Can I come?" I asked hopefully, getting off the bed.  
"Well obviously," he replied, pulling his top back on.

I grabbed my top and pulled it on. Seto pulled on his trench coat and walked over to me.

"Cal, I'm really sorry about kiss-" I silenced him by placing my finger over his mouth.

"Seto, what's done is done. And no matter how much we want to, we can't change the past," I said, turning around. "You know, you hit REALLY hard. It still hurts."

Seto came up behind me and hugged me around the waist. He lightly kissed my neck.

"I am really sorry Cal," he whispered, slowly turning me around to face him. He eyed my cheek. He leaned in and gently kissed it.

I winced slightly and let out a small hiss. I looked away and let a tear slip down my bruised cheek. Seto saw this and gently grabbed my chin and made me look him dead in the eye. We stood there for about a minute, just looking into one another's eyes.

Seto spoke after a while.

"Callie, promise me that if I do anything to upset you, you'll tell me."

"I promise Seto," I murmured, getting out of his hold. "Let's go."

Nothing much happened at KaibaCorp, just the usual bumming around the office, kissing, more bumming and them some more kissing. I didn't get home till about 11pm, only because Seto and I were too busy, um, making out.


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning I entered KaibaCorp, walked up to Seto's office and saw Tilly sitting at her desk.

"G'day Tilly! Is Seto in?" I asked when I reached her desk.

"No he isn't surprisingly," Tilly replied.

"This is just great; how am I supposed to be his PA if he isn't even here?" I asked myself. "Oh I know! I'll go to his house! Anyway, I'll see you later, Tilly!" I said, waving.

"Bye Callie!"

I walked up to the front door of Seto's mansion and rung the doorbell. A few seconds later, a maid opened the door.

"Oh, hello Miss Andersen, come in. Mr Kaiba is expecting you," she said happily.

"Thanks," I said, walking through the doorway. "Is he in his office?"

"Yes Miss."

"Cool, thanks."

I ran upstairs and stopped at the top. Something had occurred to me. I had no idea which room was Seto's office.

_Naturally I forgot to ask which room it is,_ I thought, slapping myself mentally.

I walked along the hallway, opening ever door I came across. They were all spare rooms. I also came across Mokuba's room. It was full of toys. About halfway down the hallway, I came to a door that sounded like there was a TV on coming from the other side. I was about to knock when I heard Seto and Mokuba talking.

"Hey Seto, do you think Callie will come around today?" Mokuba asked.

"Doubt it. She's probably with Yugi and the rest of them geeks. I don't see how she can like them," Seto replied.

_Ooohh! Mr Kaiba's jealous!_

"If she does come around, can I go over to Toby's house?" Mokuba asked hopefully.

"I don't think so Mokuba. You're grounded remember?"

I smiled at how hopeful Mokuba sounded and knocked on the door.

"What?" Seto called in frustration.

"Mr Kaiba, some men are downstairs. They said they need to speak to you right away!" I called through the door with a British accent.

"Alright, I'm coming!" he called back.

I heard footsteps approaching the door. It opened and Seto stood there with a shocked expression. "Oh...hello."

"HA! YOU FELL FOR IT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" I laughed, pointing at him. Then I started doing a little victory dance. "I tricked Seto Kaiba! I tricked Seto Kaiba! I tricked Seto Kai - ARGH!" Seto grabbed my arm and pulled me into his office. He closed the door behind me. "You were jealous!"

"Jealous of what?" Seto asked, wrapping his arms around my waist, pulling me closer. I placed my hands on his chest.

"You were jealous at the thought of me hanging out with Yugi and the gang instead of coming here. You know, you could've called and told me you were staying home instead of making me go all the way to KaibaCorp then here," I pouted.

"I'm sorry. It just slipped my mind. And in accordance to your jealousy statement; yes, I was a little jealous. But that's only because I want you all to myself," murmured Seto, leaning down towards me.

"Aww! That's so-"

I was silenced by a pair of lips coming into contact with mine. I leaned into the kiss. Seto licked my lips, asking for entry and just as I was about to grant it, a loud cough filled the room. I pulled away from Seto and looked towards the recliner.

Mokuba was sitting in the recliner, looking at me and Seto with a raised eyebrow. Seto and I lowered our arms and I ran for Mokuba.

"Ooh! Hi Mokuba! I forgot about you!" I said, getting Mokuba in a death hug.

"Well...obviously," he managed to choke out. I let go of him and he massaged his ribs.

I looked around the room. There wasn't much in it. There was a massive in-wall TV, a blue recliner that Mokuba was sitting in, which just happen to be in front of the TV, a matching 3 seater lounge and there was a desk. Seto was sitting there, working on his laptop. I walked over to the lounge and sat on it.

"Seto, come over and sit with me!" I whined.

"Sorry Callie, I have to finish this," he said, not looking up at me.

"Hmph! Some boyfriend! Not gonna snuggle up with your dear - Ooohh Beyblades!" I laid down on the lounge and stared at the TV. Beyblades had just popped up. I loved Beyblades. Kai Hiwatari was my favourite character. "Aw, it's nearly over. Oh look, there's Kai! Oh my god I love him; he's hot! I wish he was real!" I held out my hand towards the TV and kept going on about Kai to try to make Seto jealous. It failed.

"God, if he was real, I'd go out with him in a second!"

Mokuba was staring at me like I had two heads and Seto was still sitting at his desk, shaking his head in shame.

As I put my arm down, I accidentally fell off the lounge and hit my head on the floor.

"Oww! My head! Seto, come make my head better!" I yelled with anime waterfall tears.

"No, I don't think I will," said Seto, clicking on the mouse for the laptop.

"Hmph! Fine, I'll just stay on the ground and cry my pain away," I said, pretending to sob. I buried my head in the carpet.

A few seconds later, I felt myself being lifted off the ground and placed into someone's lap.

"You're not really hurt, are you?" Seto's voice whispered in my ear.

I turned my head slightly and looked up into eyes and smiled. "Yes I am!" I lied. "Now make me better!"

Seto leaned down and kissed my forehead. "Did that help?" he asked.

Yes Seto I thought sarcastically it made everything better

"Sorta," I shrugged.

"Maybe you should lay down."

"But I don't wanna! I'll fall asleep and you'll get mad at me 'cause you won't be able to flirt with me," I complained.

"I don't flirt with you," Seto retorted. Out of the corner of my eye, I could just see Mokuba sitting in the recliner with an anime stress vein. I smiled.

"You do flirt with me. You just don't realise it," I said, turning my full attention back to Seto and poking him on the nose.

"Is this flirting?" he asked as he began tickling me. I started screaming and laughing. We fell onto the lounge and he continued tickling me. I really like the lounge because it was extra wide so Seto and I could fit on it comfortably.

"Okay Seto...yes this...is flirting!" I laughed, slightly out of breath. "Please...stop!"

He stopped.

"Thank...you!"

He started up again. I rolled off the lounge and got to my feet. I ran over to the recliner that Mokuba was sitting in and hit behind it.

"Callie, what are you doing?" Mokuba asked.

"I'm hiding...shush!"

"Callie, get back here now or I'll go back to my desk and do some work," Seto threatened.

I quickly stood up and bowed my head. "I'll be good," I muttered. "Manipulative bastard," I added.

"What was that?" Seto asked.

"Nothing."

I slowly walked back over to the lounge and laid down so I was facing Seto's chest. I draped my arm over Seto's waist and he draped his arm over my waist. I buried my face in his chest.

"You smell nice," I murmured, pulling away from his chest. I looked up at him and he looked down at me. "I like you."

"I like you too," he whispered, leaning in and giving me a deep kiss. His arm moved from my waist to just below my bum where his finger started drawing circles where my skirt ended. And trust me, that was not far from my bum. Seto ran his tongue over my lips. I opened my mouth slightly and his tongue darted in.

We broke apart after a few minutes. I blew in his face and rested the top of my head on his chest so I was looking at mine and his feet. Seto continued drawing little circles on my thigh.

"You know, that really tickles, Seto," I said, looking up at him.

"Does it now," Seto stated, looking down at me. I nodded. "Oh well, I feel sorry for you, but don't think I'm gonna stop."

"Fine. Two can play at that game! Prepare to be beaten!" I declared.

"What do you mean by that?" Seto asked.

"You'll have to wait and see," I said evilly.

Seto rolled his eyes and continued drawing on my thigh. I placed my head where it was before. We just laid there in silence for about five minutes and Seto was _still _drawing on my bloody thigh.

"Aren't you getting sick of that?"

"Of what?"

"Drawing circles on my thigh," I said, moving my arm from his waist.

"No, not really," he replied as my hand travelled down his chest. "Why, it is a-" He broke off as I caressed him through his slacks.

"What's wrong?" I asked innocently. "Did I do something I wasn't meant to?"

"N-no," Seto stuttered, blushing.

"Oh, okay. Then you won't mind if I do it again?" I said, caressing him again. I looked up at him.

"O.O I don't see why you're doing that," he said as I continued his torture. A massive tent had formed in his trousers by then.

"I told you I'd get you back..." I trailed off.

Seto got a look of realisation his face, and then smirked down at me. "Mokuba!" Seto said looking towards his brother, who was watching Nickelodeon.

"Yeah Seto?" Mokuba said, turning to look at Seto and me.

I twisted my body around so I could see Mokuba. I felt something poking me and immediately knew what it was. _Hehehe! Go me! I rule!_ I thought with a smug grin.

"I've decided that you can go to a friend's house for the rest of the day," Seto said.

"Really? You're the best Seto!" Mokuba yelled happily. He jumped up from the recliner and ran to the phone.

"So, tell me Seto; why is Mokuba grounded?" I asked as Seto wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Yesterday while we were at KaibaCorp, he and his friend trashed the living room and kitchen," Seto replied. "The only reason I'm letting him go over to his friend's house is so I can have some alone time with you...in...my...room," he added in a husky whisper, kissing my neck.

"But even with Mokuba gone, we still won't be alone," I said, referring to the maids and butlers that would still be in the house. I felt movement behind me so I looked up and saw Seto propped up on his elbow, glaring down at me. "What? I'm just stating the obvious."

As Seto leaned towards me, I heard Mokuba say, "Yeah, Seto's girlfriend's over and they want some 'alone time'."

I looked over towards him. "This girlfriend has a name you know!" I shouted so his friend could hear. "It's Callie!"

Seto grabbed my chin and turned my head to face him. His lips claimed mine. He ran his tongue over my lips and I opened them. His tongue tangled with mine. I reached up and buried my fingers in his hair while his hand trailed all over my body.

"Hey Seto?"

I broke away from Seto and looked towards Mokuba, who was staring at us. I got off the lounge, walked over to him and kneeled down in front of him.

"Sorry about that Mokuba. We shouldn't be doing that while you're in the room. Now, what did you wanna say?" I said.

"I just wanted to tell Seto that - hey, where is he?" Mokuba said, looking around the office.

I looked towards the lounge and saw no Seto. "Seto!" I called, looking around. "He must be getting a drink or something. Anyway..."

"Huh? Oh yeah! Well, my friend wants to meet you so he's coming over and I was gonna ask Seto if that's alright," Mokuba explained.

"Oh. Well, I wouldn't care, but this isn't my house, so I can't decide. I'll talk to Seto and if he says no, I'll make him say yes, okay?" I said, winking.

"Okay! Thanks Callie!" Mokuba said happily.

"No prob kiddo. Now, go downstairs and wait for your friend and I'll go find Seto," I said, standing up. I walked towards the door, opened it and let Mokuba walk out first. When I closed the door, I turned around only to have Mokuba hug me around the waist. "Huh? What's wrong Mokuba?"

"Nothing, I just wanna hug," he said quietly.

"Aw!" I kneeled down in front of him and hugged him back. I let go of him after a few seconds and smiled. "Was that a good enough hug?"

"Yep! Thanks Callie!" Mokuba said happily, as he bounded down the hallway.

I watched him disappear down the stairs and once he was out of sight, I let out a soft sight. "I wish I had a brother like him."

I suddenly felt two strong arms wrap themselves around my waist.

"Why do you wish you had a brother like Mokuba?" Seto's voice asked in my ear. He pulled me closer to him. I placed my hands on his hands and he rested his chin on my head.

"I dunno Mr Kaiba. I guess it's partly cause he's adorable...much like you when you're asleep and he's well mannered...no comment about you," I sighed. "And...because...I've never had a brother..." I added in a whisper.

"Well, maybe I can change that Miss Andersen," Seto said, kissing my neck.

"What cha mean?" I sighed as Seto hit my weak spot.

"I'll tell you later."

"Hey Seto?" I said while he continued to kiss my neck.

"Hmm?"

"Um...Mokuba asked if his friend could come over today instead of him going over to their house," I said, turning to face him.

"No, I'm not having his friends trash the house again!" Seto said.

I got an angry face. "You are letting him come over or I'll torture you!" I said angrily, trailing my hand down his chest.

"Uhuh? And how are you going to do that exactly?" he asked as his hands rested on my ass.

"By doing this..." I gently caressed Seto through his slacks. He looked down at me with wide eyes. "Are you gonna say yes?" He nodded quickly. "Alright..." I murmured, stopping the pleasurable torture.

"You are not to do that unless we're in the bedroom," he said sternly.

"Aw! But I like making you speechless no matter where we are," I pouted.

"HEY CALLIE!"

"Oh, I gotta go! Mokuba's friend's here! I'm so popular!" I said happily, getting out of Seto's hold. "You're welcome to come if you want."

Seto nodded and we both walked down the hallway and down the stairs. When Seto and I reached the lounge room, I saw a black head and a brown head.

"So, how old is Callie?"

"She's 17, I think. The same age as my brother."

"Who do you like at school? You gotta tell me man! I told you who I like!"

"Okay, but don't tell Callie when you meet here 'cause she'll tease me..."

I smiled at that little comment.

"...I like Nadia."

"OOOH! Mokuba likes Nadia!"

I slowly walked up behind Mokuba. "So, who's Nadia, Mokuba?" I asked in his ear.

He screamed and fell of the lounge while I stood there, laughing.

"No one, Callie...and don't do that!" Mokuba said angrily, getting off the floor.

"Aw! Little Mokuba has a crush. You know, I had a crush when I was your age. His name was Tyler. I finally got the guts to ask him out and he said yes! Our first date was so cool cause we went to like, the best restaurant in Dubbo, because he's rich...much like your brother...acts like him too...which isn't a good thing cause Tyler did something to me that I'll never forget. Anyway, are you gonna introduce us?" I said happily. "Seto, get your butt over here and stand with me!" I looked over my shoulder towards him.

He was leaning against the wall with him arms folded, staring at me.

_Goddamn I love his eyes..._ I thought. _They're so dreamy..._

"What if I don't want to?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

"I'll get all upset."

"Doesn't worry me."

"GGGRRRRR! You uncaring bast...uhhhhh...MEANIE!" I shouted.

"That's me."

I growled under my breath, and then turned to face Mokuba and his friend who were giving me weird looks.

"What?" I asked slightly scared.

"Nothing...uh, Callie, this is Toby. Toby, this is Callie," Mokuba introduced.

Toby looked to be about Mokuba's height and age. He had nice brown hair and brown eyes.

"Hi Toby! If you haven't already figured, I'm Seto's one and only girlfriend. At least...I think I'm his one and only girlfriend," I said, looking at Seto, giving him an accusing look.

"Callie, you know you're my only girlfriend so stop acting so stupid!" Seto said, slightly annoyed.

"I'm so sorry Almighty Kaiba!" I chimed, bowing down in front of him. He got a major anime sweat drop. "Now, you two boys can do whatever your little heart's desire, as long as you stay downstairs and don't trash the place. Capicse?" you said, sternly.

"Yes Callie," Mokuba and Toby chorused dully.

"Alright, it's good we understand each other. Now, me and Seto have some work to do!" I grabbed Seto's hand and headed for the staircase.

"Does she always act that stupid?" you heard Toby ask Mokuba.

"Yeah, but you get use to it after a while," Mokuba replied.

"Hey! I heard that!" I yelled.

"But that's what makes her cool."

I smiled when I heard Mokuba's last comment. I heard Seto chuckling behind me. Yes, I was still dragging him behind me.

"What's so funny?" I asked, turning around to face him as we reached the top of the stairs.

"Oh, nothing," he said, smirking.

As we continued down the hallway, Seto still had a smirk on his handsome face.

"All right," I sighed irritably, stopping in front of Seto's bedroom door. "Why are you smirking?"  
Seto turned towards me and wrapped his arms around my waist.

"I'm smirking because Mokuba and his friend don't realise that you don't just act stupid, you're also beautiful," he murmured as I wrapped my arms around his neck.

"You really think so?" I asked, looking up at him.

"I know so. But there's something I need to ask you."

"Yeah?"

"You said Tyler did something to you that you'll never forget. What did he do?"

"Nothing."

"Yes he did Callie; now tell me...what did he do?" Seto asked seriously.

"Look, he just hurt me ok...there's no need to worry...I'll tell you all about it later, ok?" I said, trying to get away from the subject.

"Alright...but you better tell me Caledonia."

I nodded. He brought his lips down onto mine and pulled me closer to him. He took one hand from around my waist. I figured he was opening the door because he placed his hand back on my waist and he started to back me up. I backed up until I hit what I gathered was the end of the bed. Seto pushed me down onto the bed, breaking the kiss. He crawled onto the bed so he was hovering over me. He looked down at me.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered huskily.

"And you're rather handsome," I whispered back.

Seto leaned down and kissed me hungrily. While his fingers were lingering around the bottom of my top, his mobile rang. He broke the kiss and looked down at me for a few seconds, then climbed off me and answered his phone while I sat up.

_Why do we always get interrupted...it's annoying the shit out of me ._ I pondered angrily while Seto talked.

He hung up. "I'm sorry Callie. I've gotta got to KaibaCorp," he said, watching me closely.

"Yeah, ok. It's not like we were doin anything important," I said, trying to sound careless, but failing.

Seto looked at me with sad eyes, then leaned down and kissed my forehead. "We'll talk later ok?"

I nodded and Seto ran out of the room. I sat there for a minute, then stood up and walked out of the room and down into the lounge room, where Mokuba and Toby were playing _Sonic Heroes_ on the PS2.

"Hey boys," I called as I slumped into a recliner.

"Hey Callie!" the two boys said in unison.

I watched the boys play the PS2 until about 1:30. I helped them a , it was more like yelled at them each time they missed something.

"Do you two want anything to eat?" I asked, standing up.

"Yeah, can we have pizza?" Mokuba asked happily as he paused the game.

"Yeah, I don't care. What sort do you want?" I said, walking over to the phone.

"Meatlovers!" they said.

The two boys happily ate their pizza while I ate nothing. The boys kept asking if I wanted some, but I declined.

It was 5:30 and Mokuba, Toby and I were sitting around until the front door opened.

"Well, it sounds like Seto's home, so I'll see you boys around," I said, standing up and walking towards the lounge room door.

"Callie? Is something wrong?" Mokuba's voice asked from behind me.

"Now, why would you think something's wrong? There's nothing wrong Mokuba. Tell your brother I said bye, okay?"

I walked out of the lounge room and out to the back yard. I walked around to the front where I jumped into Duke's car and drove off. I drove around pointlessly until I got to the beach. I pulled up and took my shoes off. I got out, leaving my shoes in the car. I walked down to the warm sand and sat down.

I really shouldn't be going out with Seto...he's too busy for a relationship. His first priority's KaibaCorp and that's how it should be...but I do feel sorry for Mokuba...poor little guy...

"Callie?"

I looked behind me and saw Seto walking towards me. I looked back out towards the ocean. I felt Seto sit next to me and put his hand on my arm.

"What's up? Mokuba told me that you wouldn't eat anything and that you just walked out of the house."

"Listen Seto, I think it's best if we stop seeing each other," I said quietly, looking down at my lap. Seto took his hand off my arm and tried to cup my chin, but I stood up. "I'll see you around."

"Have I done something wrong?" Seto asked, as I started to walk away. I stopped and I heard him stand up.

"No, you haven't done anything wrong. Just forget about me. Bye!" I continued walking towards the car.


	7. Chapter 7

A week had passed since I said goodbye to Seto. I sold the game shop and sent 3/4's of the money to Duke. Naturally, the rest of it went to me. I packed my things and flew back to Australia, but not before leaving a note at the Kaiba Mansion. It read:

_Dear Seto, _  
_I'm really sorry that I can't say this in person, but the reason I broke up with you is because you're WAY too busy to be in a relationship. You run a multi-billion dollar company. You can't afford to be distracted...and I'm your biggest distraction. I am really sorry Seto._  
_Tell Mokuba to take care of himself and that I might go back to visit him one day_  
_You will always have a place in my heart._  
_Caledonia._

I was back in Australia in Brisbane visiting my cousin and her friend. She was also my friend.

Demiah was my cousin. She had short brown hair and purple eyes. She wore a light blue ¾ shirt and a lavender skirt. Arden was my friend. She had long dark brown hair that was pulled into two pony tails and light brown eyes. She wore a pale pink parker and a purple pleated skirt.

The three of us were walking down one of the very busy streets when Demiah said, "So, Callie, you never told us what Domino City's like."

"Oh. It's alright, I guess," I replied carelessly.

"So, what are the boys like?" Arden asked excitedly.

"Figures you'd wanna know about the boys, Arden. I only met a few. They were pretty cool," I replied casually.

"Names?"

"Uh, well, let's see...there's Tristan, Duke but he's in Russia now, Joey, Yugi and Seto."

"Do you mean to tell me, that you MET the three top duellists in the world, Joey Wheeler, Yugi Moto and Seto Kaiba?" Demiah asked, shocked as hell.

"Yep. Yugi and Joey were my friends-"

"What about Seto Kaiba?" Demiah asked.

"He was my boss-"

"Were any of them MORE than a friend?" Arden asked.

"Well...um...Seto kinda was," I said quietly, as I began blushing slightly.

Demiah and Arden just stood there staring at me.

"Tell me you're joking!" Arden said desperately after a few seconds.

"I'm joking?"

"Holy shit Callie! Did you ask him or did he ask you?"

"He asked me, but we kissed like, twice before he asked me," I explained. "Do either of you have the time?"

"Yeah, it's 2:30," Demiah replied, looking at her watch. "Hey, let's go to Fraser Island. We need to check on Ambrosia."

"Okay!" Arden and I agreed.

We walked towards the Marina where I found it very hard to find Demiah's boat.

"Hey Demiah? Where's your boat?" I asked, standing on my toes to try and get a good look.

"-_- You're right in front of it," she pointed out.

"Oh..." I said, looking towards the boat in front of me, "Sorry ^-^"

Arden rolled her eyes and said, "C'mon, hurry up!"

She climbed into the boat with me and Demiah following. Demiah started up the boat, and took off.

"Hey Demiah, do you think it's wise to be going out?" I asked, looking up at the sky. It had turned from a nice, clear day to a very overcast one in less than two minutes.

"Don't worry Callie!" Demiah reassured you, "We'll get to Fraser Island before it starts raining."

_Yes Demiah...very reassuring..._ I thought sarcastically.

When we were about 5kms from Fraser Island, the wind started to pick up and the waves got bigger. It then started pouring.

"GREAT FORECASTING DEMIAH!" Arden yelled over the roar of the wind, while holding on to the side of the boat for support. I was doing the same.

"I CANT CONTROL THE - ARGH!"

I looked up and saw a massive wave towering over the boat. "HOLY SHIT!" I cried as the wave crashed down onto the boat. That was the last thing I remembered before I blacked out.

Opening my eyes, I found myself in some sort of lair with a sort of snake theme to it. There were three giant snake things at the end of the room. I sat up and looked around.

"Ah! You're awake my child!"

I looked towards the snake pillars and saw a man with green-blue hair. He started walking towards me. As he did, I noticed that he had one yellow eye, and one green one.

_Dude, freak much?_

"Who are you and what do you want?" I barked, backing away while the man continued to approach me.

"My dear, my name is Dartz and I want you to work for me," he informed, kneeling down in front of me.

I tried to back away further, but I hit a wall.

_Aw you son of a –_

"Look mate, I am NOT joining a freaky ass cult so don't bother trying to ask me. Now take me back to where you found me!"

"Wouldn't you like to get out of those wet clothes?" Dartz inquired, ignoring me, and nodding towards my clothes. I looked down and saw that my clothes were sticking to me. I looked back up at him.

"Alright. But if you gimme slutty clothes, I'll kill you. Understand?"

"Oh perfectly..."

Dartz led me to a room somewhere, don't ask me where and told me to get dressed. On the bed, there were some clothes that I had to pick from. Dartz left the room.

I stood there for a minute, just staring at the clothes. I then picked each item of clothing up and examined it carefully.

I ended up picking out a blue shirt with 'HEART' written across it with a heart with wings underneath the writing, a pair of black leather short shorts, a purple and grey jacket and black leather thigh-high boots.

While I was checking myself out in the mirror, I saw Dartz walk in the room. He took one look at me his eyes widened. I turned around to give him a death glare. I walked up to him.

"Stop goggling at me. Now, I'll make you a deal. Take me to my friends; they're in Domino City, Japan. And if you can find me again, I'll join your little cult doovy, okay?" I proposed coldly.

"Hmm, if I manage to catch you, you will become my wife as well," Dartz added with a smirk.

"Fine! But just so you know, you won't catch me," I warned.

"Heh, we shall see," Dartz murmured, as he held a finger to my forehead. After that, everything went black.

"Hey Callie? You okay?"

"You don't think she had her soul taken, do you?"

"Nah. If she did, she wouldn't be breathin'!"

I opened my eyes and found Joey, Tristan and Duke leaning over me with worried faces.

"Oh my god, Duke!" I shouted as I sat up and pulled him into a hug. Joey and Tristan backed away. I let Duke go and got to my feet. I jumped on Joey and Tristan and hugged them. They managed to stay standing and hugged me back. I let go of them and looked around. "Hey, where are we anyway? This doesn't look like Domino."

"Death Valley, Arizona," Tristan announced.

"O.O What are we doin in America? Shouldn't we be in Japan?" I demanded. I looked around and saw Yugi hunched over on the ground and he looked like he was crying. "What's wrong with Yugi?"

"Um, that's not exactly Yugi," Joey started nervously. "See, that's a five thousand year old Pharaoh. Yugi's soul was captured and the Pharaoh isn't taking it too well. He played the Seal of Orichalcos and Yugi payed the price."

"Where'd the Pharaoh come from?"

"Well, the Pharaoh is actually a spirit that was locked away in Yugi's Millennium Puzzle thousands of years ago back in Ancient Egypt," Joey informed me.

"And why are we in America?"

Joey and Tristan explained that they were trying to stop a guy named Dartz from destroying the entire world with the Seal of Orichalcos card. He had been collecting souls for something.

I was going to tell them about the Dartz character that gave me the clothes and that, but decided against it. If it was the guy they were talking about, I did not want to worry them. So I just nodded and looked towards the guy that was on the ground that apparently wasn't Yugi. I slowly approached him and kneeled down in front of him.

"G'day," I smiled, placing my hand on his shaking shoulder.

He looked up at me. I saw that he indeed was not Yugi. This guy looked a lot older than Yugi and a lot muscular. He also had pretty deep purple eyes.

_Ohhhh damn, he's a bit fit!_

"Callie?"

"Yeah mate. Listen, I promise we'll get Yugi back, so don't worry about it. And I don't break promises," I reassured him.

"Okay," he sniffed as his tears started to die away.

"Hmmm. I know this may not be the best time to say this but goddamn you're hot!" I admitted with a silly grin.

The Pharaoh smiled and laughed. I helped him up and as I did, a grey horse trotted up to us.

"We better get back," Tristan chimed in from where they were standing.

"Yeah, we're getting there!" I called back, standing up. I looked behind me and saw that the Pharaoh about to get up on the horse.

"Hey, hey, hey!" I shouted, jogging up to the Pharaoh. "What'd you think you doing?"

"Getting on Copernicus?" he suggested.

"Oh, no you're not! I don't trust you riding when you're upset. Go with Joey and them and I'll ride... uh, what's the horse's name?"

"Copernicus."

"Right! I'll ride him back to wherever you lot are heading," I declared. I walked up to the horse and mounted him.

_Oh my god, why am I back on a horse? I told myself I'd never ride again...not after what happened... _

"Can you even ride?" Joey asked, in doubt.

I was snapped out of my thoughts by Joey's question. I shook my head roughly, trying to get images out of my head, and then remarked proudly, "Course I can! Can't I Duke?"

"Yeah," Duke confirmed, nodding. "Unless you count that time you fell off while you were riding bareback," he added with a devilish grin.

I huffed loudly and cantered towards Duke. He screamed and dove into his car. "Yeah, that's what I thought!" I muttered.

"We'll lead! You can follow us!" Joey called as he, Tristan and the Pharaoh got in the car.

"Okay!"

Duke started up his car, revved the engine and took off.

"HEY! WAIT FOR ME!" I screamed as I made Copernicus rear. I sped off after Duke.

After about 10 minutes of riding, I saw a caravan parked in the middle of no-where. Duke's car slowed down so I pulled Copernicus into a trot. I slowed right down to a walk, and then stopped next to Duke's car. I jumped off Copernicus and patted him on the neck.

"Who're you?"

I looked down and saw a girl of about twelve with long blonde hair.

"Callie!"

I looked back up and saw Téa running towards me.

"Hey, Téa!" I smiled, giving her a two finger salute. "Oh, my name's Callie. What's yours?" I added to the girl.

"My name's Rebecca," she answered.

I nodded and watched the Pharaoh get out of the car with his eyes shadowed. Rebecca noticed he got out and ran over to him. She hugged him around the waist tightly.

"Yay! Yugi won! I knew he would!" she shouted happily.

"No he didn't," I murmured sadly.

"What are you talking about?" Téa asked. "Is everything okay?"

"Not quite," Joey replied, getting out of the car and leaning against it. "We got a problem guys."

"Yugi didn't win," Duke muttered.

"The Seal got him," Tristan added.

"What?" Téa asked, shocked.

"You heard him; Yugi got beat, Téa," I said quietly.

"You're wrong! If Yugi had his soul taken then why is he standing right..." Téa began shouting, but trailed off as she eyed the Pharaoh. "Oh no..."

"I should never have played that card. Yugi told me not to play The Seal of Orichalcos. But my rage took control. Yugi payed the price for my mistake," The Pharaoh muttered.

"What?" Rebecca shouted. "You knew that card was evil and you still played it?" She buried her head into his chest and cried. She started pounding on his chest. "It should have been you! Not him!"

"Now hold on!" Téa protested firmly.

Rebecca turned and hugged Téa.

"I'm afraid Rebecca's right," The Pharaoh muttered.

He really isn't taking this too well you thought sadly.

"What's done is done," Joey stated.

"It's all my fault."

I heard Joey growl and run up to The Pharaoh. Joey grabbed The Pharaoh's collar and shouted, "You gotta snap outta this!" He punched The Pharaoh in the cheek. He fell to the ground.

"Joseph!" I protested angrily.

He ignored me, naturally. "What we gotta do, is find out where this Dartz guy hides out and where he keeps all these souls!"

"I've been suggesting we do that since day one, but nobody listens to me," Duke grumbled to no one in particular as he leaned on the steering wheeler of his car.

"Shut it Duke!" I growled. "I reckon we should go into the caravan and sort this out like civilised people!" I added loudly.

Everyone nodded in agreement. We all headed in to the caravan and made ourselves comfortable. I laid down on the lounge, closed my eyes and listened in on their conversation. And trust me, it was not very exciting. They were talking about some random stone and the city of Atlantis. This went on for about an hour. Some old dude joined them after a while. I knew he was old because I opened my eyes briefly and saw him walk out of a room that was near my feet. Then they decided they were going to Florida to translate some ancient inscriptions. But then they realised they had no way of getting there.

"Here, I've got an idea. Rebecca, can we use your laptop and web cam?" Joey voiced.

A few seconds later, I felt someone standing over me. Opening my eyes, I saw the old dude standing there.

"Oh, hi," I said kindly, sitting up. "I'm Callie."

"Everyone calls me Professor Hawkins," he said, holding out his hand.

I shook his hand and as I pulled my hand away, I heard Tristan say something.

"Are you sure it's wise to ring Kaiba?"

"You're calling Seto? Make sure you don't mention that Yugi lost. He'll do his nut and yeah. Oh and don't mention that I'm here," I said, looking towards Joey.

He had his face right up near the web cam. I shook my head, stood up and stretched. I then thought of something.

_Hmm...I know the perfect way to see Seto without him noticing it's me! God I'm good!_

I pulled out a can of red hairspray and sprayed it all through my hair. I then pulled out some red contacts and put them in. I walked into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror. I looked very different.

"Perfect," I muttered as I put my hair up in a high pony tail.

I walked back out of the bathroom and walked over to where the gang were. They were waiting for someone to answer. Soon enough, someone did.

"Hi. This is Joey Wheeler. I need to speak with Kaiba," Joey said.

"One moment please," the lady said.

"Hey guys," I smirked, once the screen went blank.

Téa looked towards me and screamed. The others looked towards me and gasped.

"Callie, what'd ya do?" Joey asked, dumfounded.

"Well, I don't want Seto to know I'm here, and I wanna see him, so this was the only way I could do that without him knowing it's me," I explained simply.

They did not get time to say anything because the lady appeared back on screen and said, "Your call is being put through."

"He really took your call?" Téa and I asked, shocked.

"What? He did?" Joey asked, turning back to the screen and put his face right up against the web cam again. I hit your head with your hand as Joey said, "Kaaiiibbaa! That you in there?"

"Joey pull your face away . ," I muttered. I grabbed his collar and pulled him away from the camera.

"Ow! That hurt!" Joey yelled at me. I merely smiled.

"Make it fast, Wheeler!" Seto said angrily.

I looked towards the screen and took in Seto's appearance. He looked the same as before, pretty brown hair and dazzling blue eyes.

He doesn't look like he misses me at all, I pondered sadly.

"We found some clues about those biker punks," Joey said, bringing me out of my thoughts.

"What kind of clues?"

"I'm not givin 'em up that easily Kaiba. But if you give us a lift to Florida, I'll fill ya in along the way."

_He's gonna say it, he's gonna say it!_ I kept repeating in your head.

"So what's it gonna be?" Tristan asked.

Joey made a funny growling noise and shouted, "Time is runnin' out! Those guys defeated Yugi and took his soul!"

_He said it..._

I had a face like -_-' and so did everyone else. Tristan tried to smother Joey but I tapped him on the shoulder. Tristan backed off and Joey looked up at me with horror in his eyes. I knelt down beside him and said, "Joey, I love ya and all, but you are such an idiot! I told you not to say anything!"

I stood up and looked towards the Pharaoh who looked like he was about to cry. I gently grabbed his hand and said, "C'mon hot stuff, you're comin with me!"

I dragged the Pharaoh outside, leaving everyone with stunned faces. We sat down at the picnic table that was set up.

"Now, it looks like you're about to cry. Is it 'cause of Yugi?"

"Yeah," he replied, looking down. "I just-" He broke off and sighed. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure you've got better things to do."

"Actually, I don't. Heh. We're out in the middle of nowhere dude! Hey, do you have a name?"

"I'm not really sure, but just call me Yami," he said quietly.

"Okay. Now, it seems like there a lot on your mind. If you ever need to talk about anything, I'm here okay. You can tell me anything. If it's like, something really bad, I won't judge you or anything. I may not be able to help or anything, but I'll still listen. And I won't tell anyone anything you tell me," I murmured to him, placing my hands over his.

"Thank you Callie," Yami murmured with a small smile.

"Hey you two! We're leavin' for the train station!" I heard Joey call from inside the caravan.

"Just remember what I said Yami," I whispered to Yami as I leaned over and kissed him on the cheek. I got up, walked over to the caravan, and got in. Yami followed suit. I turned to look at him and saw that his cheeks were a light shade of pink.

_AWW!_ I squealed in your head.

"So I take it Seto didn't wanna give us a ride," I stated.

"He was gettin' up us for Yugi losin', and then he hung up," Joey explained.

I shook my head and sat down as the caravan began moving.

We were all at the train station, standing on the platform. The others were listening to Rebecca complain about not being able to go with us. I was not listening though. I was in my own world. I slowly drifted off into the train while the others continued talking. I found an empty seat and sat down.

_Why am I even here? The gang don't need me here. They've all got each other and they've all known each other longer than I've known them. I should just get off the train and catch the first flight back to Australia..._

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I did not notice the train start moving or Téa sit down next to me.

"She looks really out of it," Joey commented, looking over from his seat in front of me.

"Yeah, she does. I wonder what's wrong," Téa said thoughtfully. "Hey Callie, you okay?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked around. "Huh? What's wrong?"

"That's what we wanna ask you. You seem really distant," Tristan stated as Yami stood up and walked to the end of the carriage and through the door. No one seemed to notice him disappear.

"Hmm, nothing's wrong. I'll be back in a min," I said as I got up and walked to the door that Yami walked through. I opened it and saw nothing. I looked around and saw Yami sitting with his back against the wall and his head bowed. I crouched down in front of him and lightly tapped his forearm.

He looked up at me, slightly shocked. "Callie? I didn't think anyone saw me," he muttered.

I sighed and said, "Nah, only me. Still thinking 'bout Yugi, huh?" Yami nodded glumly, bowing his head again. "Hey, um...I know you've got your own problems and all that, but um...do you want me here?" I asked. Yami looked up, shocked. "Like, do you want me here at all? Like within 100k's of you?"

"Of course Callie!" he answered, oblivious as to why I was asking him that. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I dunno," I sighed sadly, as I sat down across from Yami and hugged my knees. "I guess its cause you've got Téa, Joey and Tristan with you. They've been your friends _way_ longer than I have. You don't need me here. So...the first thing I'm gonna do when we get to the airport is book the next flight back to Australia."

"No you won't!" Yami said flatly.

"Huh?"

"Téa, Tristan and Joey are Yugi's friends, not mine. You are the first friend I've had since Yugi unlocked the Millennium Puzzle. And because I can't remember my ancient past, I don't know if you're the _only_ friend I've had," Yami murmured.

"Don't worry Yami. I'll try and help in any way I can, okay? But for the time being, let's just try and beat Dartz!" I said, reaching over and patting him on the shoulder.

Suddenly the strain started shaking violently. Me and Yami stood up and looked around wildly. We both ran back into the carriage to find Téa, Joey and Tristan standing in the middle if the isle, looking around.

"What happened?" I asked.

They all looked towards me.

"We dunno," Joey shrugged.

"I say we have a look in the other compartments and see if anyone's hurt!" said Téa.

"Yeah! Let's go! I'll go see if the drivers okay!" Tristan agreed.

Yami and Téa ran down towards the front of the train while me, Joey and Tristan ran into the little compartment thing me and Yami were in only minutes before. As I opened the door that would lead into the next carriage, a strong gust of wind greeted me. I was pushed back but Joey caught me.

"Holy shit!" I screamed. I looked around and saw that the other carriage was not attached. "Bloody hell! Okay, jump across!" I shouted over the roar of the wind.

"WHAT!" Joey shouted back, surprised. "ARE YOU CRAZY?"

"PLEASE! Just trust me with this!" I yelled as I jumped.

"CALLIE!" Joey and Tristan shouted as I landed on the other carriage.

"HURRY UP AND JUMP!" I shouted. They just stood there. "GODDAMN IT! HURRY UP YOU TWO!"

The two boys both jumped at the same time and landed safely. Then, go figure the carriage that me and the boys were on just had to start to slow down -_-'. And this just had to happen when Téa and Yami got back. The carriages were too far apart for them to jump.

"WALK ALONG THE TRACKS WHEN THE TRAIN STOPS! WE'LL MEET YOU HALF WAY!" I shouted to them.

"OKAY!" Téa and Yami agreed.

Soon enough, our carriage slowed down to a stop and the other part kept going. I watched it disappear from view. Me, Joey and Tristan jumped off and looked around.

"This is perfect," Joey stated sarcastically. "We're stuck in the middle of nowhere with no way of contactin' help!"

"We should start walking. We might meet up with Yami and Téa before sundown," I said, facing the direction the train was heading.

"Well, well, well...look who we have here."

I turned around and saw a guy standing there. He was about a head shorter than me with a red beanie on and a clump of purple hair hanging from it. It was Rex Raptor.

"What do you want, Rex?" Tristan asked angrily.

Rex ignored Tristan's question and walked over to me. "Well hello," he said. "What's a pretty girl like you doin' with these losers?"

"Huh?" I asked stupidly.

"Leave her alone, Rex!" Joey scolded, grabbing the back of Rex's vest and pulling him back. Rex fell on his backside.

"What the hell, Wheeler?" he shouted angrily.

"Leave Callie alone and tell us what you're doin' here?" Joey snarled, standing in front of me.

"I'm here for a rematch!" Rex stated as he got to his feet.

"Rematch for what?" I asked curiously, poking my head around Joey's arm.

"A rematch for when Wheeler beat me at Duellist Kingdom!"

Joey agreed to the duel and soon enough, they were in a heated battle. It lasted at least two hours. Rex had played the Seal of Orichalcos. It was the first time I had seen it in action and needless to say, I did not like the vibe it was giving off. Soon enough, Joey won.

Rex fell to the ground. He looked like he was dead.

"Is his soul gone?" I asked slowly.

Joey walked over to Rex and lifted him onto his back. "Yeah," Joey answered. "We better get goin'."

"I agree," Tristan said, nodding.

"Okay then! Let's go!" I said as I headed down the track.

For most of the day, Joey and Tristan alternated carrying Rex. I offered to carry him, but the boys said no because he would have been too heavy for me.

"So this Dartz guy...do you know what he looks like?" I asked randomly after about half an hour of walking. The silence was getting on my nerves so I decided to strike up a conversation. I was leading with Tristan following and Joey, who was carrying Rex, bringing up the rear...very slowly.

"Nope, not a clue...why?" Tristan said carelessly.

"Oh I was just wondering...um, you guys, I've got something to tell you..." I trailed off, looking at the tracks.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Tristan asked.

"Um...ya know that Dartz guy? Well, I-" I began but was cut off but Joey.

"It's. Your. Turn," he grunted as he slowly walked towards me and Tristan. "I've been luggin' this...geek...for like...2 hours already!" He fell to the ground, panting.

"Try 4 minutes," I giggled.

"Hey, since I'm nice, I'll play ya for it," Tristan offered, holding his fist out in front of Joey.

"You know, I really don't see why you're playing him again Tristan. You've flogged his ass every time," I laughed.

"Yeah, just shut up Callie!" Joey shot at me. I just laughed even more. "Aright, Tristan."

While the two boys play Rock, Paper, Scissors, I drifted off into thought.

Hmm, I wonder what the others are doin...

Suddenly, something zoomed past me, leaving a dust cloud to engulf me.

"What the hell?" I coughed. I ran in the direction the thing ran in. After a few hundred metres, I came across Joey and Tristan sprawled out in the middle of the tracks. Rex was lying in between them.

"Tristan..." Joey panted, "Remind me...why we're carryin'...this pipsqueak...who we don't even like...all over creation -"

"Because he needs our help!" Tristan cut in. "And because we're nice guys."

"And last I checked," I said, scaring the shit out of the two boys, "It's getting dark and 'cause I doubt we're gonna find Yami and Téa, I wanna find somewhere safe and warm to sleep."

Tristan sat up and nodded but Joey stayed on his back and looked up at the sky.

"Now I'm seein' things," he muttered.

I looked up at the sky. "Hang on..." I muttered. The sky was full of colours, just like the northern lights.

"Me too," Tristan said, also looking up.

"Well, c'mon you two. We need to get a move on," I piped as I began to walk ahead. "I wanna find a place to sleep."

I heard shuffling behind me.

"Hey Callie!" Joey called after me. I stopped and waited for him. A second later, Joey appeared at my shoulder, struggling to hold up Rex.

"Are you sure you don't want me to carry him for a while?" I asked, nodding at Rex.

"Yeah, don't want you straining' yourself Callie. Um, can I ask you somethin'?"

"Mmmm?"

"Why did you leave Domino?"

I looked at him shocked and though back to the time I last saw Seto. I looked away and murmured,

"Seto." I started walking again.

"Kaiba's done somethin' to her," I heard Joey say.

"I'll take Rex, you go talk to her," Tristan offered. "She trusts you Joey; you're like a sister to her. Go talk to her. You said it yourself; Kaiba's probably done something to her. Go comfort her."

I smiled at the thought that Joey and Tristan were concerned about me, but then tears welled up in my eyes."I miss you Seto," I whispered.

"Callie!" Joey called. I heard him jogging up to me. "What did Kaiba do to you?"

I stopped and shadowed my eyes. "He didn't do anything...I did..." I sighed.

"Huh? Ca-"

"I gave him everything I had!" I shouted at him as tears finally fell from my eyes. "And I shouldn't have...He's too busy for a girlfriend. It always seems that whenever we're alone, KaibaCorp rings. Then Seto leaves and just ditches me. He just leaves...he's says sorry, but he never tells me when he'll get back or anything. I just grew tired of it so I told him that we shouldn't see each other and I left. I've been back in Australia for the past week. Do you know how Mokuba is?"

"He's been really worried. He keeps askin' us if we've seen or heard from you. When we say that we haven't, he just looks at the ground and walks off," Joey explained.

I felt more tears come to my eyes and I just let them fall. "I can't wait till this is all over," I whispered to myself, wiping my tears away.

"Huh?"

"I'll be able to go see Mokuba. Tell him I'm - huh?" I stopped dead in my tracks and just stared.

"Hey, what's wroahhh!" Joey stopped and stared at what I was staring at. Tristan came up behind Joey and made a little squeaking noise.

Smack-dab in the centre of the tracks was a rattlesnake curled up. And boy, did it look angry. Its rattle was shaking fiercely.

"Don't make any sudden moves!" Joey said shakily

"Just take a step Joey," Tristan said. "We're right behind ya." He pushed Joey in front of me.

"GRR what?" Joey shot back angrily, moving back into his spot behind me. "You take a step! 'We're right behind ya'...How dumb do you think I am?"

"You don't really want me to answer that," Tristan said.

"Both of you stop it!" I shouted angrily. "I got an idea..."

I held my arms out on either side of me and backed away, pushing Joey and Tristan along in the process. When we were about 10 metres away from the snake, I walked off the tracks and walked around the snake with a distance of 10 metres between us and the snake. Once we were directly in line with the snake, it quickly slithered towards us. The three of us screamed and ran for it, leaving a trail of dust in our wake.

"Hey look!" Joey said suddenly, pointing up at the sky.

We had been walking for about 2 hours and it seemed like we weren't getting anywhere.

"There's a plane! It looks like it's gunna crash!"

Tristan and I looked up and saw a massive plane hurtling towards the ground. A bright light caught the corner of my eye. It was coming from Joey's duel disk. The light shot up towards the plane and turned into a massive red dragon.

Joey had used this card in his duel with Rex. I had never heard of it in my life so Joey explained that he, Yugi and Seto had one of these cards. He had the Claw of Hermos, Yugi had The Eyes of Timeus and Seto had The Fang of Critias.

I ran after the plane. Joey and Tristan followed. As I followed it, two other dragons joined Hermos. One was green and the other was black. The green dragon took hold of the top of the plane, and Hermos and the black dragon got under each wing.

"Hey Joey? Are they-?" I started, but Joey cut me off.

"Yeah! The green one's Timeus and the black one's Critias!"

I reached a ledge and watched the plane land safely.

"Now there's somethin' ya don't see everyday," Joey stated, astounded.

"Hey look!" I heard a voice shout from my right.

I looked and saw Yami and Téa. "HEY GUYS!" I called, waving my arms around over my head.

"Lets go down and see if everyone's okay!" Yami called.

We made our way down to the plane. As we stopped next to it, I saw that it had 'KC' on it.

"Check it out. Its one of Kaiba's planes," Téa said.

"Aw shit man! Hey, my name's Celeste okay," I whispered to them as I flattened out my clothes. "How's my hair?"

"Its fine Cal...Why don't you want Kaiba to know it's you?" Tristan asked.

"Because," I grunted. "I just don't."

I heard something open. I looked up and saw Seto standing in the plane doorway with a guy in his arms. He looked down at us. "Oh great," he muttered sarcastically. He jumped off the plane and landed in front of me. "If it isn't the Dweeb Patrol."

"Who's he?" I asked, looking at the guy in Seto's arms.

Seto looked at me for a minute. I stared right back. He then answered. "His name's Alistair. He's one of Dartz' lackeys." Seto placed the guy on the ground. He laid there, motionless.

"His soul's gone...isn't it?" I asked.

"Yes. He made me duel him," he said.

"Hey!" I heard a voice call from above us. I looked up and saw Mokuba standing in the doorway that Seto was standing in before. "Who're you?" he asked, looking down at me.

Before I could answer, I felt an arm wrap itself around my waist. I looked up and saw Joey standing there. "This is my girlfriend, Celeste," he introduced proudly.

I leaned up to him and whispered, "You wish." Then I giggled afterwards.

"Well I must say...she's dresses like a slut," Seto commented after a few seconds of eyeing me.

"Dude! That was so not cool!" I said in a British accent. "How is this slutty? If I was to dress like a slut, then I'd be in a miniskirt and a boob tube. And as you can clearly see, I'm not!"

"Not a slut aye? Then why are you wearing shorts that barely cover your ass and thigh-high boots?" Seto sneered.

I glared at him for a second or so and he glared straight back. Then Téa broke my concentration.  
"You know Celeste, I've never heard you swear," she stated.

"Really? Oh, I thought I've sworn around you before..." I trailed off trying to think of I time that I had sworn in front of Téa. I couldn't think of one. "Meh." I shrugged.

"I make you swear, don't I Celeste?" Joey asked in my ear. I knew he had an evil smirk on his face.

I stood there looking like a deer caught in the headlights. I got out of Joey's hold and slapped his arm pretty hard.

"Ow."

"Joseph, shut up! There's no need to tell everyone that!" I slapped his arm again and I could see Tristan trying to hold in his laughter. "You wanna hit too?" I shot at him. He looked at me with wide eyes and shook his head quickly. "Yeah, that's what I thought." I directed my attention back to Joey. "You are so gunna get it when we're alone mate!"

"Lookin forward to it Cal - I mean Celeste," Joey corrected, looking towards the gang who had all hit their heads.

"Joey, why do you keep calling me 'Callie'? I know she was your friend and all...but from what you told me...she didn't seem that nice-"

"Callie was nice!" Mokuba yelled, from his spot on the plane. We all looked up at him. "She was the nicest person I've ever met! She was always there for me! Even when she had other things to do!"

"You think the world of her, even though she left. Why is that?" I asked. _Why would he still think that about me?_

"Because she left for her own reasons! And...I think its cause of...me..."

Mokuba jumped down and ran off. Seto made to run after him, but I grabbed his arm. He turned and glared at me.

"Let go of me!" he growled.

"You stay here," I said. "I'll go after him. Joey! When I get back in gunna kick your ass!" I called over to Joey, who nodded.

I ran after Mokuba. "Holy shit this little dude runs fast. OI MOKUBA!" I shouted. "PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME RUN! OOOHH YOU ARE SO LUCKY I'M NOT WEARING MY SKIRT! I WOULDN'T WANT SETO STARING AT MY ASS!"

Mokuba stopped immediately. I was running too fast to stop safely so I did the next best thing. I dove over Mokuba's head and tumbled along until I came to a stop on my back. My head was spinning. Mokuba's head appeared above mine.

"Oh hello. My name's Callie. What's yours?" I asked in a daze. I think that screwed up my head a bit. I had swirly eyes as well.

"Is it really you?" Mokuba asked.

My eyes went back to normal and I sat up. I pulled out my contacts and put them back in the little case. Then I put it in my pocket. I slowly looked up at Mokuba with a small smile on my face.

"It is!" Mokuba said happily, as he hugged me.

I hugged him back tightly. I heard heavy footsteps approaching me and Mokuba. He let go of me and I looked over my shoulder. The gang and Seto were running towards us. Joey was leading with Seto following closely. Téa and Yami were next with Tristan bringing up the rear. They obviously left Rex where that Alistair guy was.

"Hey Cal? You alright?" Joey asked as he stopped near me. He obviously forgot the plan. But it did not matter cause I messed it up anyway by letting Mokuba know it was me.

I slowly stood up and I was careful not to make eye contact with Seto. "Jeez that bloody hurt! I think I pulled every bloody muscle in my body!" I complained as I rolled my shoulder. I turned to face Mokuba. "You can hug me properly now," I said, holding out my arms.

Mokuba smiled up at me and jumped up into my arms. "I missed you Callie! Please don't leave again!" he cried into my shoulder.

"Shh...I'll try not to, okay?" I said quietly as I held him up.

"MR KAIBA! MOKUBA!"

I turned around and saw Rowland running towards us.

"What is it?" Seto asked irritably.

"Sir! I've got terrible news!"


	8. Chapter 8

"Sir! I've got terrible news!"

"Someone bought out KaibaCorp? I can't believe it! I thought that was something that could never be done!" I said, astounded.

We were all in Seto's Comanche chopper listening to him talk to some guys on his computer. Téa and myself were sitting against one of the walls of the chopper and directly across from us Seto and Mokuba were sitting on a bench. Joey was standing a little way from me and Tristan and Yami were standing near Seto.

"Yeah! Same here!" Téa said who was sitting next to me on the floor. "Hey Callie, your hair looks really nice. The red really suits you. And the red contacts add to it. You should keep it like that."

"Yeah? I may do it properly later. This is only hair spray. I'll put the contacts in again," I said, pulling my contacts case out of my pocket. I put them in and pulled the band out of my hair. I looked at Téa. "What cha think?"

Before she could reply, Joey did. "You look really pretty Callie," he said, walking over to sit on my other side.

As he sat down next to me, I saw Seto look at Joey and me out of the corner of his eye. I saw the jealousy flash through his eyes.

"Hey Joey," I said to Joey quietly before moving my lips to his ear. "Do me a favour aye? Pretend we're going out please?"

Joey moved away and whispered, "Why?"

"Cause I wanna play with Seto," I whispered, then added with a laugh, "Man, that sounded wrong!"

Joey and me sat there laughing with everyone stared at us. Téa slowly slid away from me while Joey kissed the top of my head.

"Hey Callie?" he asked suddenly.

"Hmm?"

"How did you come up with the name Celeste?" he asked, slightly curious.

"Oh, I was looking though a baby name book a few days ago and saw it," I replied carelessly.

"You were lookin' through a baby name book?" Joey repeated. I nodded. "Are you pregnant?"

I moved in front of Joey and looked him in the eye. I grabbed his hands, held them in mine and said with all seriousness, "Yes Joey, I'm pregnant with your baby."

This time, everything went quiet. Dead quiet. I looked around and saw everyone was staring at me wide eyed, except for Seto and Joey. Joey gave me a very weird look and Seto gave me the coldest looked, filled with hatred, anger and pain.

"What?" I said, dropping Joey's hands. "I was only joking, jeez! Can't you people take a joke?" I ran my hand through my hair and sat back down in my original spot.

"Mr Kaiba, we're here!" Rowland called from the front of the chopper.

Joey, Téa and I stood up and stepped away from the door. I felt the chopper touch land and the door opened. Prof. Hawkins, Rebecca and Duke were standing there. I ran out of the chopper and into Dukes arms. He hugged me back tightly. He put me down and I turned to face Seto. "So, what're we doing here?"

"If you had of listened instead of flirting with Wheeler, you would know that we need to use my super computer to translate the inscriptions from Atlantis," Seto explained coldly.

"Oh, well, sorry Mr _I've Got a Pole Shoved So Far up My Ass That Its about to Come out My Mouth!_ I wasn't flirting with Joey! We were only pretending! Bloody hell, Seto! Just because you don't like the fact that I like talking to Joey don't mean that you can talk to me like that! Joey's like my brother! Nothing more, nothing less!" I shouted angrily.

Everyone stared at me in shock, except for Seto. He looked like he was about to kill me.

_Eeeep._

"GET LOST CALLIE! NO ONE WANTS YOU HERE! NO ONE WANTS TO SEE YOUR UGLY FACE! YOU'RE SO ANNOYING! EVERYONE IS SICK OF YOU! THEY'RE SICK OF HEARING ABOUT YOUR SCREWED UP LIFE! ABOUT HOW YOU'VE LOST EVERYTHING! EVERYONE IS JUST SICK OF IT!" Seto yelled at me, fury evident in his voice. "NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOU!"

I just stood there in total shock, as did everyone else. I looked down at the ground and let a few tears that were welling up in my eyes fall.

"You're right..." I admitted. I slowly lifted me head back up and looked at everyone. "I'm sorry I've been such a pest..." I ran off. I heard Yami, Joey and Duke calling after me but I just ran faster. I found a small alley, ran in, curled up behind a bin and cried.

~Seto's POV~  
I watched Callie run off and I immediately regretted what I said. However, I shook it off. "Whoever's coming with me, let's move!" I said as I began walking away.

"You guys stay here; I gotta find Callie," I heard Devlin say.

"No Duke," Wheeler said, "You've gotta drive. I'll go look for her."

I heard footstep quickly approaching and Yugi appeared at my side. Once we were out of sight, Yugi stated, "That was really cruel Kaiba."

"What?" I asked angrily, turning my head to look at him.

"What you said to Callie. That was unreasonable."

"Oh well."

"We all love Callie, Kaiba! Joey loves her more than all of us... maybe even more than Duke loves her!"

I had had enough. I lifted Yugi up by his collar and pushed him up against a building wall. "And you think I don't love her?" I growled. I immediately stopped and thought for a moment.

_Did I really say that? To Yugi?_

"Well you sure don't show it!" Yugi shot back.

"She doesn't know," I said, dropping him.

"And I bet the thought of you possibly loving her was shot to hell when you yelled at her!"

"Just drop it Yugi! Let's go!" I sighed irritably, as I continued walking.

~My POV~  
"Okay. C'mon Callie! Pull yourself together! There's no need to cry..." I said to myself as my tears died down. I had been sitting behind that bin for about 15 minutes and Seto's words kept playing in my head. It was as if my mind was set on repeat. "I mean, all he did was totally break me..." I broke down into tears again. "I hate you Seto! I hate you so much!" I sobbed quietly.

"Hey Callie? You here?"

I looked over the top of the bin and saw Joey walking into the alley. "Joey?"

Joey ran over to me and squatted in front of me. "You shouldn't be here Cal, there might be some drunken idiot lurkin' around," he said quietly.

"I don't care to be honest...I really don't. If something happened to me again...who _would_ care?" I muttered, wiping my eyes with the ball of my right hand. I know it sounded slightly attention seeking, but at that point, I really could not care less.

Joey stood up and held out his hand in front of my face. I gently grabbed it and he slowly pulled me up.

"I'd care if you got hurt again. Don't take any notice of what Kaiba said okay? He knows that we all care about you... and as much as I hate to admit it, he does to. We all love you, and you're as pretty as anythin'," Joey murmured, running his hand through my hair. I smiled a bit and hugged him. He hugged me back tightly.

"Sometimes I wish I never met Seto," I muttered into Joey's chest. "He's hurt me too much."

Joey immediately pulled me to arms length, grabbed my shoulders and said in a panic, "What'd ya' mean 'he's hurt me too much'?"

I stared at him for a moment, before smiling slightly. "Don't worry Joey, I don't mean physically...well, unless you count the time he hit me..." I trailed off.

"He's HIT you?" Joey snarled. "C'mon Cal, let's get out of this alley." He let go of my shoulders and took hold of my hand. He dragged me out of the alley and led me to a bench alongside the road. We sat down. "Callie, tell me what happen," he urged, gently grabbing my arms and turning me to face him.

I sighed. "Alright. Well, a week before it happen, I caught Seto kissing another girl. So I didn't talk to him and all that for a week. Then the day after me and you went to the movies, Mokuba called me and said he was feeling sick. So I went over and everything. Mokuba had already called Seto and told him that he was sick so when he got there, we said a few words to each other. When I was about to leave, he grabbed my arm... very hard. I threatened to tell Mokuba why Seto and I weren't talking if he didn't let go. He didn't let go so I told Mokuba that I caught Seto kissing someone else. Then Seto slapped me. Then I taunted him and he slapped me again. He told me to get out so I did. It really hurt Joey. I never thought Seto would hit me. I don't even know why I took him back," I recalled. I broke down into tears.

Joey pulled me into his arms. "So that's why you had a bruise on your cheek that day."

I nodded into his shoulder. "I'm sorry," I sobbed.

"Hey, hey, hey! You have nothin' to be sorry for Cal. You did nothin' wrong," Joey cooed softly into my ear.

"Yes I did. I took Seto back, after I kissed you. I'm so sorry!" I sniffed as I pulled away from Joey.

"Callie, listen to me. I don't think we coulda been any more that friends. You're like my sister. And I can't believe I'm sayin' this, but I truly believe that you and Kaiba are meant for each other. I know he doesn't show it, but I can see it in his eyes. You and I pretending to go out in the chopper probably pushed him over the edge. He cares about you more than he could about me, Yugi, Téa, Duke and Tristan put together. And that's saying a lot cause we all thought that Kaiba would never care about anyone but Mokuba," Joey stated. He sounded so sure, but he faltered a bit. "You two are just going through a rough patch at the moment-"

"But that's part of the reason I left him Joey!" I cried. "We always fight and it's really getting to me! I don't know how much more I can take! He continually says that he likes me a lot, but then he goes and hurts me! I mean, love him with all my heart, but I'm getting sick of this! I - I -" I broke off and started crying again.

Joey pulled me back into his arms and just let me cry. "...You love him?"

I stopped crying and my eyes widened. I pulled away from and looked at Joey. He had a curious look on his face. I sighed and looked away.

"Yeah, too bad the feelings aren't returned..."

"Well, well, well. What do we have here aye?"

I looked around and saw a bloke sitting on a yellow motorbike. He had brown hair and blue eyes. He had a smirk on his face.

"Valon!" Joey growled as he let go of me. "Where's Mai?"

_Who's Mai?_ I wondered.

"I'm sorry mate, but I didn't come here to chat. I'm here for the girl," Valon said in a very distinct Australian accent. "Dartz has been waitin' for her. You're Callie, aren't ya?"

I nodded. "You work for Dartz?" I sniffed as I stood up.

"That's right Callie," Valon replied, nodding.

"Okay, just gimme a min," I said as I turned around to face Joey.

Joey stood up. "Callie, what's goin' on?" he asked.

"I haven't got time to explain, but tell the others that I'm fine and tell Seto that I'm sorry." I leaned up and kissed Joey's cheek. "Bye Joey."

I walked over to Valon and he passed me a helmet. I pulled it on and got on behind him.

"Callie, wait!" Joey called but Valon took off.

_I'm sorry Joey_, I thought as Valon rode down a series of deserted street. I started to wonder where he was taking me.

After a few minutes, we pulled up in a narrow street with no street lights. The only light available was the light coming from Valon's bike. Valon turned to look at me. "Stay here, a helicopter will be pickin' you up soon," he said.

I pulled off my helmet and nodded. Hoisting myself off the bike, I gave Valon the helmet and he hung it on his handlebars.

"Now, if you'll excuse me lil' miss, I need to go finish Wheeler," Valon said as he took off.

"Shit! Be careful Joey," I murmured.

Just as I was about to sit down, the wind picked up around me and I heard what sounded like a helicopter above my head. I looked up and saw that it was a helicopter. A rope ladder flew out of it and it hung in front of me. I eyed it for a second before I slowly started to climb it. Once I reached the top, a hand appeared in front of my face. I took it and I was pulled up into the chopper.

Once the ladder was pulled up and the door was closed, the chopper took off. I sat down on one of the seats.

While we were flying to who-knows-where, I took in the appearance of the guy who pulled me into the chopper. He was a tall, muscular man. He looked to be about 22 with short, blonde hair and blue eyes. His hair came to two points on each side of his face.

He suddenly looked up at me. "What're you lookin' at?" he snarled.

I quickly looked away. "Sorry."

"You're not the girl Dartz picked up," he said suddenly.

"Huh?" I asked, stupidly. "Oh, yes I am. I just coloured my hair."

After I said that, I realised I could have been smart about my answer and said I was not her. _Stupid Callie._

"Are you Australian?"

I nodded. "Yeah, name's Callie," I introduced as I held out my hand.

"Raphael," he said as he briefly shook it. "You know, you're really sexy."

I stared at him. "I'm sorry, huh?"

"If we weren't in a helicopter right now, there's no telling what I'd be doing."

_Bloody hell! Why does every single guy I come across wanna get in my pants?_ I screamed in my head.

"I'm sorry, but you wouldn't be doin anything," I stated coldly.

Raphael was about to say something, but the pilot called "We're here!"

The chopper landed and I slowly stood up. I jumped out of the chopper and came face to face with a massive palace thingy. Looking around, I saw that the palace was on a small island surrounded by water. There was no land in sight.

_Jeez, how far out am I?_ I wondered.

I slowly walked into the building and was greeted by a familiar sight. Three massive snake statues glared at me as I advanced further.

"This place gives me the creeps," I muttered to myself as I shuddered.

"Now, now Caledonia," a voice said from behind me. I jumped out a foot in the air. "Surely it's not that creepy."

I turned around and saw Dartz standing there with a small smirk on his face.

"HOLY FUCK! DON'T DO THAT!" I screamed at him.

"There's no need to swear, Caledonia," he said softly.

I growled quietly and folded my arms. I walked over to the snake statues and sat down. I hugged my knees as Seto's words flooded my mind. Tears welled up in my eyes and I buried my head in my knees.

"You miss Mr Kaiba, don't you?" I heard Dartz ask. I nodded into my knees. "Caledonia, Seto Kaiba doesn't really care about you. He's shown that countless times and he's even said it to you. He was only using you. The rest of your so-called friends are no different. They don't care about you. You're all alone..."

I let Dartz' words wash over me. He was right. I was all alone. I had no one.

"I can take away your pain Caledonia. If you join me, you won't be alone-"

"Yes I will!" I interrupted as I looked up at him with tears in my eyes. "You'll leave me just like everyone else!"

"No Caledonia. I won't leave you. I want to help you. If you join me, I'll help you. We'll rid the world of all the people who have ever hurt you," Dartz retaliated. "Wouldn't you like to get back at all the people who have caused you pain, people who have left you alone in the world and those who have lied to you?"

I looked into Dartz' odd eyes with my own tearful ones. Slowly, I nodded.

Dartz smiled. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a green stone that was attached to a black choker. He held it out for me to take. I slowly reached out and grabbed it.

As soon as the stone touched my skin, I felt energy surge through my body. I felt loved. I also felt the need to hurt the people who had hurt me. One person in particular: Seto Kaiba.


	9. Chapter 9

"How do you feel my dear?" Dartz asked quietly.

"Like I need to teach all the people that have hurt me a lesson," I stated coldly, as I took the belt chocker off from about my neck and put it on my left wrist. I put the choker with the stone on it around my neck and clipped it up.

Dartz smiled and pulled me to my feet.

"Well now, I know you're dying to see your ex boyfriend, so you can go with Rafael," he said. "But before you go..." He pulled out a small knife and held it out in front of me. "You may need it."

I nodded, taking the knife. I carefully slipped it into my boot and walked back out the way I went in.

The chopper was still there and Rafael was leaning against it. He looked up at me. "Are you comin' with me?" he asked irritably.

"Yeah. You gotta problem with that?" I responded with an attitude.

Rafael shook his head. I walk towards him and slowly stepped into the chopper. As I was about to walk over to the seat inside the chopper, I felt something hit my ass. I spun around and saw Rafael just behind me with a smirk on his face. I grabbed the front of his singlet and pulled him into the chopper. I threw him down onto the seat roughly. Just as he was about to get up and probably slap me, I straddled his lap.

Truth be told, I felt like acting like a slut. Moreover, if Seto Kaiba was going to be there with the Pharaoh when Rafael duelled the Pharaoh, I could act like me and Rafael were together.

"What the hell are you-" Rafael began but I cut him off with my lips.

Rafael must have been shocked because he did not react for a few seconds. He then grabbed my bum and pulled me into him so our bodies were touching. His tongue pushed through my lips and duelled with mine. I reached up, ran my hands though his hair, and began to grind my hips into his. Rafael groaned into my mouth. He broke away and moved down to my neck and started sucking on it roughly. I moaned loudly as I continued grinding into his hips.

While grinding, I felt something poking into me. I looked down slightly and saw that Rafael had a huge bulge in his trousers. I pulled Rafael's head up and kissed him roughly. I stopped grinding and slowly guided my hands down Rafael's chest. I reached the top of his trousers and just fiddled with his belt. He slipped his hands under my shirt and ran his hands over my bare skin, causing me to shiver slightly.

It went on like this for a few minutes until Raphael began to undo my shorts. That was when what I was doing really kicked in. I should not have been doing it. I immediately pushed myself off him distanced myself. I knew what I had just done was wrong. Very wrong. I felt sick. Dirty. I watched Raphael slowly stand up. Having no idea what he was going to do, I cowered like a little girl against the wall.

Relief flooded my body when I heard the pilot say, "We're here!"

The door of the chopper opened so I quickly jumped up and ran past Raphael, out into the cold night air. Looking around, I saw that we were on top of a building. It was bare except for an elevator door on the other side. I slowly sat down on the cold ground and laid down.

After a few seconds, I felt someone stand over me. I opened an eye and saw Rafael standing over me.

"Can I help you?" I asked dully.

"I didn't get to finish off what I was gunna do," he commented.

I closed your eye and huffed "Oh well, I don't think you're ever gunna finish it."

Before Rafael could say anything, I heard the elevator 'ding' then the doors open.

"Well, well, well. Hello Pharaoh," I heard Rafael say.

"Rafael, are you - who's that behind you?" I heard Yami ask.

I then felt a sharp kick in my ribs. "Ow! Don't kick me you dildo!" I growled as I hit Rafael in the back of the leg. I slowly hoisted myself up on my elbows.

"Callie?"

I looked towards the elevator and saw Yami, Téa, Seto, Mokuba and Tristan standing there. On closer inspection, I saw that Tristan was carrying Joey. He looked like he was dead.

"Joey?" I whispered, but quickly shook my head. Joey was one of the many people who had pretended to be my friend. _I shouldn't be feeling sorry for him._

I slowly hoisted myself up and stood next to Rafael. "Well, well, well. If it isn't Seto Kaiba; my EX boyfriend," I said with a smirk on my face.

"Notice anything, Pharaoh? She's on our side," Rafael taunted smugly as he wrapped his arm around my waist.

"What? No way!" Tristan gasped. "Callie would never join you! She hasn't got a bad bone in her!"

"Oh shut it, Taylor!" I snapped. "Why would I be with you losers if I was lied to?"

"How were you lied to Callie?" Téa demanded.

"You all pretended to be my friends! And YOU!" I growled, pointing to Seto, who stared at me, shocked, "You broke my heart! Actually, you just broke me completely! I'm all alone! I've got no one-"

"Callie!" Mokuba cried.

I watched as Mokuba made to run towards me, but Seto grabbed his arm and pulled him back. He was the only person that did not do anything to me. He was such a sweet kid. I could never hate him.

"Mokuba don't!" I heard Seto say in panic, "She'll hurt you."

"I won't hurt your brother Kaiba. He hasn't done anything," I said coldly. "Now hurry up, Rafael. I wanna go."

Rafael nodded and activated his duel disk. "It's time to duel Pharaoh! And this time, you won't get away!"

I watched Yami activate his duel disk, and then I walked back to where I was laying before and laid back down.

I must have fallen asleep on the ground because the next thing I remembered was feeling something poking me in the arm. I slowly opened my eyes.

Mokuba was looking at me with tears in his eyes.

"What are you doing, kid?" I asked as I slowly sat up.

Mokuba was about to say something, but he was interrupted.

"MOKUBA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Seto's voice rang out from the other side of the roof.

I looked towards him and saw him start to walk towards Mokuba and I. I grabbed Mokuba's arm and pulled him towards me. I pulled out the knife from my boot. I held it against Mokuba's neck. I could feel him stiffen with fear.

Looking up at Seto, I saw him stop dead in his tracks.

"Don't worry, Mokuba. I'm not gunna hurt you," I whispered in Mokuba's ear. I felt him relax a little bit, but not much.

"Let go of him, Callie!" Seto shouted.

"NO! If you come any closer, Mokuba will have an extra smile! Now go back to the others!" I ordered.

Seto stared at me for a minute and I could see he had tears in his eyes.

_He must really care for Mokuba,_ I thought. His tears made my thoughts about him waver. I looked away and saw light coming from the horizon. _Grr! I can't do this!_ I moved the knife away from Mokuba's neck and let him go. I stood up as Mokuba ran to Seto. I looked towards where Yami and Rafael were duelling and saw a big massive black dome thing._ Rafael must be in there. Oh well. I can't stay here!_ I thought while carefully shoving the knife back into my boot.

I put two fingers in my mouth and emitted a loud whistle. A second later, a helicopter appeared from nowhere. The door was open and the chopper hovered behind me.

"Til we meet again Kaiba!" I shouted over the roar of the chopper. I gave him a two-finger salute and jumped into the open door of the chopper. As the chopper took off, I closed the door behind me. I sat down on the seat and buried my head in my hands.

_Grr, my mind is so messed up. Kaiba hurt me. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. But why were there tears in his eyes when I held Mokuba at knife-point? Maybe he does care about Mokuba. But why does a small part of me say that those tears were for me? He told me himself that he doesn't care about me..._

I groaned in frustration.

"Are you okay Miss?" I heard a voice call from the front of the chopper.

"Huh? Oh... uh, yeah! Just thinking!" I replied distractedly.

"Okay, Miss. Were here."

I slowly stood up and stretched. I stepped off the chopper and walked into Dartz' palace.

"You're back early my dear." Dartz' voice spoke for somewhere. He then appeared in a burst of flames. "Where's Rafael?"

"He's still duelling the Pharaoh. I had to leave without him. I couldn't be near Kaiba without someone with me. And Rafael was duelling so I couldn't use him," I said.

"Don't worry my dear. Mr Kaiba won't do anything to you. He and the Pharaoh will be here shortly. So feel free to roam around," Dartz said, and then disappeared in another burst of flames.

I slowly walked back outside and sat down on the edge of the fortress thing. I let my legs dangle over the edge. I took off my jacket and laid back on the ground. I put the jacket over my face.

_This is nice,_ I thought after a while.

I had no idea how long I was laying there, until I heard something approaching overhead. I sat up, totally forgetting that my jacket was on my face. It slipped off my face and I watched it fall into the water.

"Aw, fuck me dead!" I moaned angrily.

I looked up and saw a chopper flying towards me. I figured it belonged to Seto. I also noticed that it was becoming extremely windy and there were dark clouds hanging overhead. The wind nearly blew me over when I stood up. I ran back inside.

"DARTZ!" I shouted. "THEY'RE HERE!"

"Go into the next room and wait for them," Dartz' voice said.

I nodded and walked into the next room. Looking around, I saw the walls were covered in little squares with what looked like pictures of people in each of them.

_Okay...I'm officially freaked out. I'm not staying in here._

As I began to walk back out to the snake room, I heard voices and footsteps. I walked back out and saw the gang standing around.

"Hello," I said quietly.

They all looked towards me and Yami stepped forward.

"Callie, why have you joined up with Dartz?" he asked.

"I told you why!" I retorted coldly. "I'm all alone! My mum's gone. You all have each other and I was never part of your group. I was never liked. And you Kaiba..." I said, walking up to him. I stopped about a metre away from him. "You're the main reason I'm with Dartz. You always left me just to go to KaibaCorp. You never cared about me. I was sick of being treated as if I was some sort of toy you can play around with. You were too busy to be in a relationship with someone like me. That's why I left you! Dartz showed me that I was alone in the world, but he told me he would be my family. So I joined him."

They all just stared at me. What? Was I wearing something of theirs?

"The only person that showed the slighted hint they actually enjoyed my company was Mokuba. I sorry you were dragged into this Mokuba..." I trailed off as I looked down at him.

He looked up at me with watery eyes. The sight of Mokuba's tears made me tear up. One lone tear slowly slipped down my cheek before I shook my head roughly.

"Now, if you'll follow me..."

I led the others into the weird room and waited.

After a few seconds, I heard Dartz laugh. "Gentlemen," he said in an evil voice. "Welcome."

The flames appeared again and Dartz stepped out from it. I walked over to him and stood beside him.

"Well, hello my wife," he said, looking down at me.

"WIFE?" the gang gasped.

I had totally forgotten my bet with Dartz. If he found me, I would have to join him and become his wife. I only agreed because I was certain that he would not catch me.

_Aw, this is just perfect_, I thought sarcastically.

"You're Dartz' wife?" Seto growled at me. He had fury burning in his eyes.

_Hmm... Maybe I can make this work to my advantage..._

I leaned on Dartz and said smugly, "Yes Kaiba. I don't see why you're so angry about it. You don't love me."

Seto just stared at me angrily.

"Dartz! Release the souls of our friends and let Callie go NOW!" Yami yelled angrily.

"Caledonia joined me on her own free will. And as for the souls of your friends, well, that's not possible," Dartz smirked as I moved away from him and folded my arms.

"What do you mean?" the Pharaoh questioned.

"I mean their souls have already been put to use. As we speak, their life energy supplies strength to the Great Leviathan. My ten thousand year old collection is almost complete. Once I get you two, the great beast will rise!" Dartz informed.

_What?_

"Huh? Ten thousand years?" I asked in disbelief as I stared at Dartz. "You've been collecting souls for ten thousand years?"

Dartz turned to me. "Why, of course, my dear."

_Goddamn! How old are you?_ I thought as I stared at him.

"Do you have any idea how many lives you've destroyed?" Yami asked incredulously.

Dartz laughed and said, "Millions! And each one of them deserved their fate! Just look. This room can give you quite the history lesson."

"I'll say..." I muttered as I walked up to the wall and touched it. I looked up at the many pictures carved into the walls and ceiling. "Check out the outfits on some of these guys..."

_All of these people...their lives were destroyed because of the Orichalcos...is it possible that Dartz is trying to destroy the world instead of trying to create paradise?_ I thought as I stared at the wall. _If that is the case, then this is wrong._

While Dartz was talking to Seto and Yami, I stood there and thought about the situation.

_This is very wrong. People shouldn't have their souls taken, not for any reason. What have I become a part of?_

I shook my head and turned back around as I heard Seto say, "Come on! You expect us to believe that junk?"

"Ye have little faith," Dartz commented. "Just duel me and I promise I'll make a believer out of you. For when you lose, there'll be no denying my power."

"Then let's stop talking and start duelling!" Seto recommended.

"You can't Kaiba, not on your own," Yami butted in.

"Then why don't you join him, Pharaoh. That way I'll get two souls for the price of one," Dartz said.

I watched as Seto and Yami activated their duel disks. They both shoved their decks into the card slots in sync. In all honesty, I thought it looked cool. I looked towards the gang and saw Mokuba staring at me. He must have noticed me looking at him because he gave me a small smile. I smiled back, and then turned my attention back to the duel.

Seto moved first. He used his White Dragon Ritual to summon Paladin of White Dragon. He then sacrificed it to summon Blue Eyes.

"God, I love that Dragon..." I muttered.

I must have muttered it louder than I thought because Seto looked towards me. Even though I was a fair few metres away from him, I could see what I thought was love and sadness in his eyes. He gave me a small smile. I gave the tiniest one back.

_Maybe Kaiba does care about me..._ I thought.

Little did I know the Orichalcos stone on my choker cracked a little.

Yami's turn came around in which he summoned Black Luster Soldier. Then Dartz had his turn. He held up a card and made a speech about how the card he held was made from the darkness itself.

_It's the seal!_ I thought as I swallowed.

A strong gust of wind whipped around us as Dartz placed the card onto his duel disk. The Orichalcos symbol formed around Dartz' feet, then expanded to cover the entire field.

_He had to play it didn't he?_ I thought as I groaned.

Suddenly the temperature dropped and I felt a _very_ evil vibe pulsate through the air.

"Whoa!" I muttered before shouting over to Mokuba, Tristan and Téa, "Do you guys feel that?"

"If you mean the sudden drop in temperature and that freaky evil vibe in the air, then yes I do!" Tristan shouted back.

"Me too!" Mokuba and Téa said in unison.

I shivered and looked back to the duel. Seto and Yami were looking at Dartz with wide eyes, almost like they were freaked out. I figured they must have felt the temperature drop and the evil vibe as well.

"Now that I've set the tone for this duel, allow me continue," Dartz stated as he drew a card. He played it and it was Orichalcos Gigas.

_What a fugly looking monster,_ I thought as I stared at it.

"I've faced this beast before," Yami commented. "And it was almost impossible to destroy, Kaiba."

Seto put his hands on his hips. "That's because you didn't have me to bail you out," he said arrogantly.

Then Dartz summoned a spiky eye thing that looked very weird.

Once it was Seto's turn again, he drew a card and started laughing. Everyone looked at him.

"How sad," he said randomly. "I actually believed I was up against a talented duellist until I witnessed your poor excuse for an opening move..." He ranted some more, then played Polymerisation. He summoned his two other Blue Eyes and fused them with the one on the field. He then ended his turn.

"Alright, time to pick up where Kaiba left off," Yami announced. He drew a card and held it out. "I'll now use my Polymerisation card to fuse Kaiba's Dragon with my Black Lustre Soldier!"

I did not like the way this duel was going. Seto was down to his last few hundred life points. As the duel progressed, the stone around my neck slowly cracked. I was not aware of this. I had been watching the duel intently. Each time Seto lost life points, the stone cracked. The feelings I had for him were starting to surface again.

Dartz had had the upper hand throughout the whole duel. He managed to counter everything Yami and Seto threw at him. There were two monsters on the field; Dartz' Orichalcos Shuderos, which looked like a massive status thing, and Seto has fused Critias with his Mirror Force trap card to make Mirror Force Dragon.

Dartz suddenly ordered an attack on Seto. Orichalcos Shuderos shot a green ring towards his Mirror Force Dragon. It cut it clean in half. I held my breath as the ring turned around and hit Seto in the stomach. I watched in horror as his life points hit zero. He grunted in pain but looked up at Dartz.

"I'm not done yet," he murmured, but I heard it. He activated a card that gave the Pharaoh extra life points. He then fell forward. His eyes connected with mine and he shot me a small smile. Yami ran towards Seto and caught him.

That did it. The Orichalcos stone around my neck shattered into millions of pieces as I ran towards the green circle that they were trapped in. I ran into an invisible barrier and rebounded off it. I landed on my back, but quickly jumped up as Seto's body flew out and hit Tristan. I ran towards him. I skidded to a stop on my knees next to him.

Mokuba was also sitting there with Seto. He had tears running down his cheeks. Tristan had recovered from the blow and was standing with Téa, looking down at Seto and Mokuba.

"Seto," I murmured in a quivering voice. No answer. His eyes were closed and there was no movement behind his eyelids. "Seto, please..."

Tears slowly seeped from my eyes as I stared at his face. I could hear Mokuba shouting at Dartz but I did not pay any attention. I just stared at Seto with tears still falling. I placed my hand where his heart was.

"I'm so sorry, Seto..." I whispered. "So sorry..."

"Well, well. Look what we have here?" Dartz' voice announced loudly. I looked up at him. He was staring at me. "It seems you don't seem to realise how much Seto Kaiba has hurt you, Callie."

"Shut up," I growled. "I've hurt him more than he's hurt me."

Anger started to pulsate through my veins as I glared at Dartz. I wanted nothing more than to hurt him. Bad. As I was about to start shouting at Dartz, I suddenly felt light headed. All the stress, sadness and anger of the past few weeks had taken its toll on me. I passed out.

The sound of seagulls overhead and waves crashing onto the shore greeted me when I gained consciousness. I opened my eyes and sat up. I was on a beach. As I looked around and took in my surroundings, I realised I was on an island, but not just any island...

_How did I get on Fraser Island? I was nowhere near Australia..._ I pondered in shock as I stood up. _I wonder where the others are... I hope they're okay..._

I started walking along the shoreline, just thinking about everything that had happen.

_Seto… I can't believe I joined Dartz… The look on Seto's face when he heard that I was with him... It even hurt me… I hope he's okay…_

As I was walking, I saw someone standing about 50 feet away from me, just staring out into the ocean. I kept walking towards them. As I got closer, I realised who it was.

"Yugi?" I said loudly.

They looked towards me and it was indeed Yugi. "Callie!"

I ran towards him. I gave him a big hug.

"Are you okay?" Yugi asked once I let go of him.

"Yeah I guess. Heh, I didn't think Dartz would actually find me..." I trailed off.

"Find you?" Yugi inquired. "What do you mean? What happened?"

I sighed and sat down on the sand. Yugi followed suit.

"It's a long story..."

I told Yugi everything. From me being with my friend and cousin, to meeting Dartz and making that deal with him.

"...I didn't think he'd find me... And I sure didn't think I'd fall for what he was saying..." I finished sadly. "The look on Seto's face when Dartz called me his wife even hurt me..." Yugi gave me a sad look. "Hey, how come me and you are on Fraser Island, and the others aren't, where are they?"

Yugi sighed then said, "After you passed out, I managed to beat Dartz, but then he merged with the Great Leviathan. That gave it the last bit of power it needed. So me, Joey and Kaiba went and fought it and won. Then everything started collapsing so Kaiba and Joey ran for it but I was stuck behind because Dartz was trying to turn Yami evil or something. We beat it, but we didn't get out in time. My guess is that they didn't get you before they got away..."

"Oh..."

I sighed and stood up. As I stretched, I heard something approaching us from the air. I looked and saw a Comanche helicopter flying towards the island. I kept watching it and as it got closer, I realised whose chopper it was. Yugi stood up beside me. The chopper landed about 50 metres from us and I gulped nervously. The door opened and Joey stepped out. He looked at me and I gave him a small wave.

"CALLIE!" he shouted and ran pell-mell at me. He got to me, swept me up into a big hug, and swung me around. I laughed as he did so. Joey put me down and kissed my forehead. "I'm so sorry we didn't get you before the tower collapsed. I actually thought Kaiba would have grabbed you..."

I smiled. "It's okay Joey. I'm just glad you're okay." I hugged him again, and then Joey turned his attention to Yugi. The next thing I know, small arms wrapped themselves around my waist. I looked down and saw a black tuft of hair buried in my stomach. I knelt down and smiled at him.

"I missed you..." Mokuba said quietly.

"I missed you too Mokuba. It's okay. I'm all better now... I'm not the bad guy..." He hugged me again. I let go of him and stood up.

I hugged Téa and Tristan and then was face to face with Seto. I looked up into his sapphire blue eyes and just ran. I heard them all calling after me, but I did not stop. I stopped after a minute or so and sat on the sand. I stared out into the ocean. I sighed sadly and as I did, I heard another form of motor running. I looked around and saw a motor boat approaching the island. There were two people on it. I sat there and tried to make out whom they were.

"CALLIE!"

I knew that voice. I stood up quickly as the boat skidded onto the sand.

Demiah and Arden leaped out of the boat and crash tackled me. I laughed and hugged them both back.

"Okay get off me now," I grunted.

They both climbed off me and pulled me to my feet.

"Where have you been?"

"Everyone's been worried sick! Don't tell me you've been here all along?"

I sighed and said, "It's a long story. Did you end up seeing Ambrosia?"

"Yeah," Arden replied. "We should go find her now."

Demiah and I agreed. Arden started walking in the direction that the gang were. I grabbed her arm and suggested we walk the other way.

"But Ambrosia always stays around this side of the island."

I sighed and let Arden lead the way. I just hoped that the gang were getting ready to leave.  
As we walked along, I could see the outlines of the gang and the chopper coming into view.

_Shit,_ I thought angrily. _They haven't left._

"Hey, I wonder who they are..." Demiah said thoughtfully. She obviously saw them standing here. "HEY!"

I saw the gang turn and look towards us. Demiah and Arden ran towards them. I just dawdled behind them, looking at the sand.

"Oh, my God, you're Yugi Moto!" Demiah said excitedly.

"And you're Joey Wheeler!" Arden yelled with just as much excitement.

"AND YOUR SETO KAIBA!" they both shouted.

I came up behind them and said, "Can you two stop screaming?"

"Callie?" Joey said, walking up to the three of us. Demiah and Arden stepped away and Joey stood in front of you. "Are you okay?"

I nodded.

"Do you know these two?"

"Yeah," I said. "Demiah, Arden, this is Joey, Yugi, Seto, Mokuba, Tristan and Téa. Guys, this is Demiah, my cousin and Arden our friend." They all said hi to each other. "So Joey, how are you feeling?"

"I'm pumped Callie. Did Yugi tell you about how we beat that Leviathan thing?"

"If memory serves me Wheeler, the Egyptian God Cards defeated that beast," Seto said with his arms folded. "Callie, can I talk to you...alone?"

I nodded. Seto started walking away and I followed him. When we were about 10 metres away, I looked back at the gang and saw Arden glomp Joey. Demiah and the rest of them were standing there with anime sweat drops. I laughed slightly and turned back to face Seto. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. He held it out. I gently took it and opened it.

The letter I left in the letterbox at the Kaiba mansion. I looked to the bottom of the piece of paper and under where I had signed my name there were eight words.

_I'm sorry._  
_You'll be in my heart, always.._

I looked up at him and he had shadowed his eyes. He then looked at me and I saw that his eyes were watery.

"I've missed you so much Cal..." he whispered. "I never wanted you to leave... I had no idea it affected you that bad... Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you to think that I was complaining, Seto. I know your company means a lot to you. I just didn't want to be in the way..." I said quietly, looking away.

Seto placed two fingers under my chin and tilted my head up to look him in the eyes. "Your happiness means a lot to me too... Yours and Mokuba's..."

I started to tear up. Seto must have notices because he wiped under my eyes with his thumb. He leant in and pressed his lips against mine. My heart jumped. I had missed the feel of his lips against mine. He pulled my body against his to deepen the kiss and held my waist. I draped my arms around his neck. We stayed like that for a minute or so until I broke away. He pressed his forehead against mine.

"Can I ask you something? What did Tyler do to you?"

I pulled away from Seto in shock. I was not expecting him to ask me that. I looked away and sighed, "He cheated on me. So I went and made out with some guy and Tyler found us. He hit me. And I don't mean a slap or anything... a full on punch..."

Seto tilted my chin up and gave me a soft kiss.

"I'm sorry I hit you Cal..."

"It's okay Seto... I forgive you..." I smiled.

"Come back to Domino with us," Seto said suddenly. "Mokuba misses having you around just as much as I do."

I told him I would and got out of his hold. I began walking back towards the others. I snuck up behind Joey and jumped on his back.

"Go forth my gallant steed!" I shouted, thrusting my arm out in front of me, not expecting him to move. Joey grabbed onto my thighs and started running. I nearly fell back but managed to wrap my arms around his neck. He ran about 50 metres away, then spun around and ran back to the others. I was laughing during the whole thing. He stopped in front of Téa and I jumped off Joey's back.  
I shoved him roughly. "Could have warned me."

"You told me to go forth so I did," Joey said before poking out his tongue.

I did the same and then laughed. I looked around and saw Seto standing behind Yugi watching me closely. I was about to walk over to him, when I was pounced on. I screamed and started laughing as Arden started poking me.

"I saw that kiss Kaiba gave you! Are you two back together?"

I managed to get out a yes then she stopped.

"Can we leave?" Joey said suddenly. We all looked towards him. "I need to pee."

I pointed behind him towards the trees that covered the island. "There are trees everywhere, Joey. Use one," I stated.

Joey got a look of realisation on his face. He nodded and ran into the trees.

I suddenly remembered something. "Shit! Joey, come back! There's dingos in there!"

The moment I said that, we all heard Joey scream and run back out of the trees. Hot on his tail was a dingo. It was a unique dingo. It had a white patch on the side of its belly that looked like a heart.  
_Ambrosia, _I thought fondly.

I whistled and the dingo turned to look at me. "Come here girl." The dingo bounded towards me. It leaped up and knocked me off my feet. It started licking my face. "Okay Ambro!" I laughed, "Down girl!" I stood up and everyone had shocked faces, except for Arden and Demiah.

"Okay, why did that that dog lick you and why did you call it 'Ambro'?" Joey asked.

"Well, first of all, her name is Ambrosia. Secondly, she's not an ordinary dog; she's a dingo, a wild dog. It's a long story but um... a week ago when I first came back to Australia, me, Arden and Demiah came over here. Don't ask why, we were bored I guess. Anyway, when we got here, we found Ambrosia being chased by another dingo." I paused and watched Ambrosia sniff around Téa's feet. I smiled slightly. "When we pulled the boat up on shore, the other dingo ran back into the trees and Ambro just stood there and watched us. I started walking towards her and she just walked up to me. Ever since then we've been coming here every day. It was helping to get a lot of things off my mind," I explained, looking at Ambrosia, who was then looking up at Mokuba.

"Can I touch her?" Mokuba asked, looking carefully at Ambrosia.

"Yes, of course you can!" I said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "She won't hurt you."

Mokuba slowly held his hand out for Ambrosia to sniff. She sniffed his hand then started licking it. Mokuba giggled and started patting her. She laid down on her back and Mokuba crouched down and rubbed her belly.

While the gang all took in turns of patter Ambrosia, I walked towards Seto.

"What's wrong?" he asked when I stood in front of him.

"Are you sure you want me to go back with you? I mean, you can't afford to be distracted," I said looking away.

Seto grabbed my chin and tilted my head up to look at him. "You're coming back to Domino with me and that's final!" he ordered.

"SIR, YES SIR!" I said, saluting him.

"You're demented and yet I still like you," Seto muttered with an anime sweat drop, shaking his head.

"Hmph."

I turned my back on him and folded my arms stubbornly. I felt a pair of arms wrap themselves around my waist.

"I'm sorry Cal," Seto whispered in my ear, giving me goose bumps.

"It's okay Seto. Hey, if I got back to Domino with you, what will you do if we get interrupted by KaibaCorp?"

Seto did not say or do anything for a few seconds, and then he turned me around to face him. "I'll tell them to do whatever they need me to do themselves," he said, looking into my eyes. "But..."

"I know, I know. If they're dying without your help, I won't stop you from going to save their asses. But can you just promise me something?" I said, looking back into his cobalt eyes.

"Anything."

I looked away and said, "Can you spare a day just for the two of us, even if it's once in a blue moon, I don't care, as long as we get a day to ourselves without any interruptions." I then looked up at Seto. "Unless of course it's Mokuba, then I'll go to him no matter what we're doing. And I want you to spend some time with Mokuba, The poor little guy looks up to you Seto."

Seto nodded and leaned down and gave me a short, but sweet kiss.

"Hey, Moneybags, we leavin' yet?" Joey called out from over where the gang were still patting Ambrosia.

I walked over to the gang and Ambrosia jumped up and put her paws on my belly. I smiled and patted her.

"Are you coming back home Callie?" Mokuba asked hopefully.

"Your bother agreed to the proposal I made, so yes." I said, smugly.

"What was the proposal?" Téa asked.

"None of your business," I replied with a slight smile.

Everything was quiet for a minute before Téa made a noise. "EEEWWWW!"

"What?" I asked, confused. I thought for a minute... "Urgh! Téa you suck minded perv! Not that!" I yelled angrily.

"I thought it was," Tristan said.

There were many 'yeah's' after that.

"Sick minded freaks!" I muttered. I then straightened myself up. "Let's go home!"

"Yeah! I'm sure there's someone else trying to take over the world back home!" Joey yelled, running towards the chopper.

"You know the scary thing is, he's probably right," Tristan said as he and Téa followed him. Yugi and Mokuba also headed towards the chopper.

"Thanks for everything guys," I said, turning to Demiah and Arden.

"Are you gonna get your clothes?" Arden asked.

"Nay, I'll pester Seto into buying me some new ones." We all had a big group hug. "Please look after Ambrosia for me."

"Yeah we will," Demiah smiled.

I nodded and turned to face Seto. He took hold of my hand and we both began walking towards the chopper.

"Make sure you and Kaiba have lots of alone time!" Demiah called from behind me.

"Okay!" I called, not looking back at them.

"Make lots of babies!" Arden yelled.

I did an amine fall. I got up and looked at Seto. His eyes were wide. I spun around and looked at the two girls.

"Dude, did you have to yell that out?" I asked. Arden just shrugged. I waved at them and Seto and I continued. We got into the chopper and made ourselves comfortable.


	10. Chapter 10

"Callie? Wake up babe."

I opened my eyes and found myself lying on the seat of a limo with my head in Seto's lap.

"Where are we?" I asked groggily.

"Home," he whispered.

I sat up and Seto climbed out of the limo. He helped me out.

"Thanks, Hun," I whispered as Seto closed the limo door.

"What did you call me?" Seto asked curiously as we both walked up to the front door.

"Hun. That's you new pet name... but if you don't like it, I won't call you that," I blurted out.

We stopped at the front door and Seto pulled me into his arms. "No, I don't mind at all." He leaned down to kiss me.

As our lips were about to touch, the door opened and Mokuba stood there with a raised eyebrow. Seto looked towards him and glared.

"Woops. Sorry," Mokuba apologised.

"It doesn't matter Mokuba," Seto said glumly as he let go of me.

Mokuba smiled and bounded back into the house and left me and Seto sitting there. I suddenly felt very tired. I felt myself sway a bit. Seto must have seen because he held onto me.

"You okay Cal?" he asked worriedly.

"I just feel really tired... c'mon lets-"

Seto cut me off by picking me up bridal style. As he carried me inside, I wrapped my arms around his neck and snuggled up to him. I felt him kiss my forehead and I fell asleep in his arms.

I woke to the sound of bird chirping. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that I was in Seto's room. Two strong arms were wrapped around my waist tightly. I closed my eyes again and turned around so I was facing Seto. I felt a pair of lips press themselves against mine but I did not kiss back. Seto pulled away and tried again. He tried about 5 times before I gave in and kissed him back.

I pulled away and murmured, "Nice way to wake up."

Seto smiled and kissed me again passionately. He slowly crawled on top of me without breaking the kiss. His tongue pushed through my lips and explored my mouth. I moaned into his mouth and I felt him smirk. Seto reached down was about to pull off my top, when I broke the kiss and placed my hands on his chest.

"What's wrong?" Seto asked, sounding hurt.

"I just know we'll get interrupted," I replied eyeing the door and as if on cue, someone knocked on the door. "Told ya'."

"Seto?"

It was Mokuba.

"Yes Mokuba?" Seto called as he climbed off me.

"I was checking to see if you were awake. Shouldn't you be at work? It's 9:30," Mokuba told us through the door.

"Shit! I'm late for work!" Seto growled, jumping out of bed and running into the bathroom.

I slowly got out of bed and realised I did not have any other clothes. I shrugged and walked out of the room. I walked along the hallway until I found another bathroom. I went in and had a quick shower. While in there, I had hung my clothes around the bathroom so they could get a bit of steam through them to freshen them up a bit. My hair also went back its natural dirty blonde colour.

When I got out, I got dressed, and then made my way back to Seto's room. Seto had not finished in the bathroom yet so I sat on the bed and waited. I only had to wait a few seconds before Seto ran out of the bathroom in just a towel and ran into his walk in robe. I did not take much notice.

_I knew I was a distraction_.

He emerged a minute later in his battle city outfit.

"I'm so fucking late!" he muttered angrily.

"I told you," I said, more to myself, but Seto heard.

"What?" he snarled, turning to face me.

"I TOLD YOU!" I shouted, standing up. "I TOLD YOU THAT I'M A DISTRACTION!"

"YOU ARE NOT, CALLIE!" Seto shouted back.

"IF IT WASN'T FOR ME BEING HERE, YOU WOULD BE AT WORK!"

"CALLIE, JUST STOP IT!"

"ADMIT IT! I'M THE REASON YOU ALWAYS GET CALLS FROM KAIBA CORP! IF I WASN'T AROUND, YOU WOULDN'T NEED TO GET CALLED IN 'CAUSE YOU'D–"

"CALLIE, SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

I stared at Seto speechless. I turned and ran out the door, only to run into Mokuba. We both fell to the floor. I got back to my feet and kept running before Mokuba could say anything.

"Callie! Stop!"

I ran out the front door and was about to open the gate, when a hand roughly grabbed my forearm and spun me around. I looked into Seto's eyes before he launched into a very passionate kiss.

I quickly closed my eyes and wrapped my free arm around his neck. He let go of my arm and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer. He pushed his tongue through my lips. It was my time to strike. I bit Seto's tongue. Not hard enough to cause pain, but hard enough to get his attention. He broke away from me.

"Callie!"

"You need to learn not to talk to me like that. So as punishment from now until we leave KaibaCorp, you're not allowed to kiss me," I stated simply.

"What about touching?" Seto asked.

"Hmm... I guess you can touch me. But not touchy feely touching. Loving touching. Yeah. Loving touching. But I don't mean sex loving touching, I mean affectionate touching. Yeah. That one."

Seto laughed.

"We better get going. Don't want you to be later than you already are," I said quietly.

Seto cupped my cheek. "Cal, I'm really sorry about yelling at you like that. I've just been really distracted lately with all that Dartz shit and you leaving... I haven't got much work done."

I nodded and Seto led me to the waiting limo.

_Even when I'm not around, I still distract him. Why won't he admit it? _I thought as I got in the limo. Seto got in after me and set beside me.

All the way to KaibaCorp, I stared out the window thinking the same thing. I did not even notice Seto place his hand on my thigh.

I saw KaibaCorp coming into view and I shifted slightly. I felt a bit of pressure on my thigh and looked towards it. Seto's hand was squeezing it gently. I liked it whenever Seto touched me, but I could not get the thoughts of me distracting him out of my head. I had to give him a bit of time to himself. The limo pulled up and I sped out of the car before the driver had even said that we had arrived. I ran through the front doors, and into the elevator. I pressed the button for the top floor rapidly. Looking up, I saw Seto run into the foyer. He must have spotted me because he ran towards the elevator. I cursed the elevator doors as he approached. They finally started closing and I sighed in relief. The doors closed in Seto's face.

The elevator rose to the top floor and I bolted towards Seto's office. Running past the secretary's desk, I noticed that Tilly was not there yet. I shook it off and ran into the office. I skidded around Seto's desk and crawled under it. I sat there for about a minute before I heard the office door open.

"Callie?" Seto's voice called out worriedly.

_Stop worrying about me Seto, and get some work done!_ I shouted in my head.

I heard him approach the desk and sit down in his chair. I had to squash myself against the front board of the desk because Seto's legs were so long. Staring at someone's legs for a few minutes is enough to make anyone sleepy, so I started dozing off. I curled up in a ball, fell to the side and slept.

~Seto's POV~  
I sat at my desk, staring at my office doors. I was hoping Callie would walk through them and be her normal cheery self. After a minute or so, the doors still had not moved. I sighed and leaned back in my chair, falling into a deep train of thought.

_I shouldn't have yelled at Callie. It's a good thing she keeps me from my work... When I know she's okay, I can get work done... But, for the last week, I was worried sick about her. Didn't know how she was... what she was doing. Sure, the note gave me a bit of comfort... At least I knew where she was... Well I thought I did..._

A sleepy groan made me snap out of my thoughts. It sounded like it came from under my desk. Pushing my chair back, I stuck my head under the desk and smiled at what I saw. Callie was fast asleep, curled up in a tight ball, lying on her side. Her hair fell gracefully over her face. It made her look even more beautiful. I got off my chair and managed to get her from under my desk. I stood up and she made herself comfortable in my arms. I carried her over to the lounge that was in my office and laid her down. Covering her over with my trench coat, I gently kissed her, and then I walked back over to my desk and made some phone calls.

~My POV~  
I slowly opened my eyes and stretched. Looking around I found myself on the lounge in Seto's office. I also noticed that Seto's trench was covering me.

"...I don't care. If something goes wrong, you deal with it. I'm not going to be interrupted tonight!"

The bang of the phone receiver hitting the base made me jump slightly. I heard Seto sigh. I looked towards him. He had his head in his hands. I sat up and stretched again. I stood up, grabbed the trench coat, and quietly walked around behind Seto's chair. Seto's hair shone as the sunlight hit it. I gently placed the trench on the floor. I grabbed the chair and swung it around, catching Seto off guard. I straddled him.

"Callie! You scared-"

I cut him off by grabbing the front of his shirt and pulling him into a passionate kiss. Seto wrapped his arms around my waist tightly and pulled me against him. He slipped his tongue into my mouth and tasted me. I ran my fingers through his hair and moaned into his mouth. Seto broke the kiss and moved to my neck. He stared biting and sucking it lightly.

"I'm sorry... for making... you angry..." I breathed.

Seto stopped sucking my neck and look at me. I looked into his eyes. "I know you are, Cal... I'm sorry for yelling at you this morning. But I'm going to make it up to you."

"Really?" I asked, intrigued. "How?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out later. Now, jump up, we're going," Seto said, letting go of me.

I slowly go off him while pressing my lips against his. He stood up and broke away from me. He gathered up what he needed to take with him and we left his office.

All the way home in the limo I repeatedly asked why we were leaving KaibaCorp so early. The only response I got was a small kiss on the lips and "you'll see". Whenever he did not give me the answer I wanted, I glared at him. He just smirked like he always did.

The limo pulled up outside the house and we got out. We got inside and made our way to Seto's room.

"Hey Seto, what do I wear?" I asked as Seto walked into the bathroom.

"There's some clothes for you in the cupboard. Pick whatever you want," he responded as he closed the door.

I stepped over to the walk in robe and opened the doors. Clothes hung on either wall greeted me. Amongst Seto's many trench coats, I spotted some normal looking clothes. There were jeans and polo tops, even shorts.

_I'll have to get Seto into these,_ I thought evilly as I held up a pair of black board shorts and examined them.

I put the boardies down and kept looking for women's clothes. I found them eventually. They were not that bad. There were a few pairs of shorts and jeans, a few sundresses and nice tops. I even found shoes. I ended up picking a pair of grey skinny jeans, a black top with a metallic bow on it and black heels with studs on the straps. I got dressed in the wardrobe.

"Cal, are you okay?" Seto's voice called as I was putting on my shoes.

"Yeah, I'll be out in a sec," I responded. I stood up properly and smoothed out my top and jeans. I opened the door and stepped out.

Seto was sitting on the bed, looking at something in his hand. I tried to get a good look, but he put it in an inside pocket of his trench coat. He looked up at me and his eyes widened. "Wow..."

"You like?" I asked as he stood up and made his way over to me.

"I do," Seto murmured as he gently pressed his lips against mine. I began to kiss back, but he pulled away. "Let's go."

"Are you even going to give me a hint?" I said as he led me out of his room and down the hallway.

"Nope. You'll love it though Cal," Seto said, dragging me down the stairs and out the front door.

We were sitting in the back of the limo and I was still trying to get Seto to tell me where we were going. But, naturally, he was not going to let up.

"Seto! Would you just tell me?" I complained as I hit his thigh.

"No."

I sighed angrily and looked out the window. The limo rounded a corner and I saw something that caught my eye.

It was a nightclub. There were many people standing around outside with glow sticks. Just above the entrance, there was a massive neon sign that said 'KAOS'. I gathered that was the name of the club.

"Hey, Seto? Can we go in there?" I asked, while still staring out the window as we drove past the club.

Seto leaned over and looked out the window. "A nightclub? You're not even 18."

"Oh... Yeah..." I said stupidly. I sat back and folded my arms stubbornly. "Well that was a jip."

Seto laughed and wrapped his arms around my shoulder. He lightly kissed the top of my head. "When you turn 18 I'll take you out."

"Okie."

We continued driving for about another five minutes and by that point I was getting really annoyed that I still did not know where we were going. I was about to have a go at Seto for not telling me where he was taking me, when the limo slowly pulled to a stop.

"Are we here?" I asked eagerly as I turned to look out the window.

Before I had a chance to look, something covered my eyes.

"I can't let you see it yet," Seto whispered in my ear, which sent shivers down my spine.

He tied up the blindfold and I heard him get out of the limo. A few seconds later, my door opened and I was greeted with a woody smell mixed in with the smell of the ocean. I felt someone grab my hand and gently pull me out of the limo. I knew it was Seto. I heard him close the door and felt him grab my shoulders and lead me along. I was taking very weary steps. I really did not want to trip in front of Seto. I would have looked like a retard. Plus Seto would have never let me live it down. We stopped and Seto kissed my cheek. He slowly undid the blindfold and pulled it away. What I saw blew me away.

We were in the middle of a clearing and in front of us, were a picnic rug spread out and a basket was sitting on top of it, along with two plates, two cups and a bottle of coke sitting in a bucket of ice.

"Oh my God, Seto."

"Do you like it?" Seto whispered in my ear.

I turned around gave him a passionate kiss. "I love it!"

Seto smiled and led me over to the rug. We sat down and Seto poured us a cup of coke each. While he was doing that, I peeked in the basket and my eyes lit up.

"POTATO BAKE!"

I loved potato bake. It was my favourite food. I pulled it out of the basket and kicked my lips. I was about to pull the cling wrap off it, when Seto said, "don't you wanna see what else is in there?"

I gave him a look as if to say, 'are you serious?' "Pfft. No."

"I think you should look."

I sighed and looked in the basket. I blinked, then looked up at Seto and hugged him tightly. "OH MY GOD, THANK YOU!"

There were a few pieces of chicken schnitzel in the basket. I loved it just as much as potato bake. I had to think for a few seconds. How did Seto know that I loved potato bake and chicken schnitzel? I pulled them out, and then put one on Seto's plate, then one on my own. I also served up some of the potato bake.

We sat there for a good half hour, feeding each other and making out. I had to admit to myself, that everything that Seto had done was exactly what I had wanted. A peaceful night with just us. No KaibaCorp, no calls to interrupt us. It did make me somewhat sad that I could not go into the club though, but I guess dinner with Seto was enough. The fact that he went through the trouble of getting all this together, just made me smile from cheek to cheek. I had assumed that Seto had gotten some of the people that work for him to set the picnic up and stuff, but it was the thought that counted.

When we had finished, I placed all the leftovers in the basket, making sure that lids were on tight. In all honesty there wasn't much potato bake left. I stuffed my face. Of course, Seto just gave me a weird look. I rubbed my belly and looked up at the stars.

"This was exactly what I wanted, Seto," I murmured.

"I'm glad I was able to please you," Seto breathed in my ear, making me jump about a foot in the air. I had not heard him come closer. Nonetheless, I leaned back into him.

"Thank you."

Seto kissed the top of my head before gently pushing me off him. I was confused so I turned my head to give him a questioning look. He just nudged towards a path that led back to the road. I nodded, stood up and proceeded to move the picnic basket off the rug.

"What are you doing?" Seto asked as I put the basket on the grass.

"Packing all this up?"

Seto shook his head. "Leave it. Someone will come and do it for me. There's one last thing I've got planned for night."

I got an intrigued look. Seto grabbed my hand gently and led me back out to the street where the limo was waiting. Seto opened the door for me, like a true gentleman. I smiled at him and slid into the limo. He followed shortly after.

"Home, Max," he said as he put his arm around my shoulders.

"Yes Sir!" I heard Max say from the front of the limo.

I rested my head on Seto's chest and fell into a deep thought. I still could not believe Seto had arranged for us to have a moonlight picnic. From what people had told me about him back in Australia, and the way he presented himself on TV, it was the last thing I expected. In all honesty, I did not think anyone expected him to be going out with someone, especially someone like me; just a typical teenager. You would think if he was to go for anyone, it would be someone upper class. I was not complaining though. He was the best thing to happen to me. I just wished I could tell him I loved him. I had expectations on how he would react if I ever did get the balls to tell him. They were something along the lines of him staring at me, and then laughing in my face. Never speaking to me again would closely follow that. I knew he would never feel the same way. I died when I accidentally let it slip to Joey. I was glad I did not get to see how he was going to react.

"Are you okay, Cal?"

Seto's voice brought me back to my senses; I looked up into his sapphire blue eyes and smiled. "I'm fine."

"Good. I hope you liked the picnic," Seto said quietly, tucking a few strands of my hair behind my ear.

"I loved it."

Seto kissed the top of my head as I looked out the window. We were coming up to the Kaiba mansion. I was sure Mokuba would be wondering where we were. After the limo pulled up, Seto quickly climbed out. I was about to open my door, when it was opened for me. A hand appeared in front of me. I looked up at Seto as I gently grabbed his hand. He pulled me out of the limo and closed the door. It was a quiet walk to the front door, but it was not awkward. Nothing needed to be said at that moment. Seto opened the front door and let me in first. I slipped past him. Looking around, I noticed that all the lights in the house were off. Mokuba always waited up for Seto. I turned to face Seto, who was locking up.

"Where's Mokuba?"

Seto turned to face me with a small smile on his face. He walked past me, not bothering to answer my question. He did however take hold of my hand as he walked past and led me up the staircase. I kept asking the same question repeatedly until we got to the top of the staircase, where Seto turned to face me. There was no expression on his face.

"Mokuba's staying at Toby's tonight."

I eyed Seto for a minute before saying with a smirk, "you planned this, didn't you?"

Seto chuckled. "No actually. Mokuba asked me if he could sleep over while you were asleep."

I mouthed 'oh' and looked to the side, not sure of what to say or do. Seto gave me something to do. He gently grabbed my chin and pulled my face to face him. His lips covered mine in a gentle kiss. I kissed back while slowly moving my hands to his neck. He gripped my waist before pulling away, keeping his hold on me.

"There's something I want to tell you, Cal. But I don't know how to say it..." Seto murmured, his voice shaking a bit.

I looked up at him, confused, and then I smiled. "Just say what it is."

As I observed Seto, I saw that he was nervous. Even more so than when he first told me he liked me. To be honest, the only thought that was running through my head was that he was going to break up with me; that everything he had done that night was just an act. It was weird, I know. However, I generally thought excessively. I bit my lip. Seto sighed heavily. He did not say anything for a moment.

"I love you Caledonia Andersen."


	11. Chapter 11

Well, that was unexpected. I must have looked like a deer caught in the headlights. My whole body was in shock. However, I was sure if my heart had legs and arms, it would have been doing a dance at that moment. Then I thought what if it was a joke? Seto Kaiba would never fall for anyone. It just was not possible. It was possible the whole thing was a publicity stunt to get more sales. But then I thought with the way Seto had been acting towards me, when we were not fighting, and when he was not lip-locked with a female rep, it seemed like he genuinely liked me. I swear I confused myself.

I had a tendency to block out the world around me while I was in my 'think too much' state, so I did not notice Seto release his grip on my waist, or him looking at me with a hurt look, or him walking back down the hallway to his office. That was, until he slammed the office door shut. I roughly snapped back into reality and looked around.

A loud bang made me direct my attention to Seto's office door. I slowly walked over and opened it.

Seto was standing on the right hand side of the room. He had his fist pressed against the wall, as if he had just hit it. I assumed that was what made the bang. Seto was resting his forehead against the wall; his eyes closed.

"Seto?" I managed to say quietly.

Seto tilted his head towards me and opened his eyes. Even from a distance, I could see that he was hurt. He pushed himself away from the wall and just stared at me.

"I'm sorry I didn't say anything before, but I -"

"I don't want to hear it, Callie. Just leave," Seto shot at me.

"Seto, will you just let me –"

The glare that Seto shot at me shut me right up. He slowly walked up to me. I thought he was going to hit me. I opened my mouth to tell him that I loved him too, but his glare intensified as soon as my lips parted. I closed them quickly. Was he going to break up with me, without hearing what I wanted to say? I guess he was not open to reason. I did not answer, so, in his eyes, that meant I did not love him back. Seto walked around me, out the open door and gestured for me to walk out.

"Leave, Callie."

I stood there for a few seconds, just looking at him. Maybe it was best to leave him alone for a few days, and then try to talk to him when he had calmed down a bit. That was, if he was willing to talk to me a few days after. Bowing my head, I quickly walked past him and down the hallway. While walking down the stairs, I was trying to figure out who would take me in at 10 at night. I pulled out my phone as I walked out the front door. Pulling it shut behind me, I called Téa.

"Hey, Callie. What's up?"

That was when it hit me. I let out a loud sob as tears streamed down my face. Seto was furious at me. I did not know if he would talk to me again.

"Can you come and get me?" I sobbed.

"Where are you?" Téa said frantically.

"Seto's."

I hung up before Téa said anything else. I walked out the gate and sat in the gutter. Looking back at the Kaiba mansion, I saw Seto's silhouette in one of the second story windows. It looked like he was on the phone. I assumed it was someone from KaibaCorp.

_I bet he's going to leave soon.. _I thought. I was willing to bet anything that even if Seto and I had not had this misunderstanding, he would have left anyway.

A cold breeze blew past me. I wrapped my arms around myself in an attempt to defend against the cold, but it failed. Shivering, I looked down the road and saw a pair of headlights approaching. I wiped my eyes before standing up. The car rolled to a stop in front of me. I was surprised to see Joey sitting in the car with Téa. He jumped out and ran around to me. He grabbed my shoulders gently and looked at me.

"Did he hit you? Téa said you were in tears."

I looked past Joey and saw Téa standing behind him. "What happen?" she asked quietly.

I sniffed. "I'll tell you when we get to Téa's?"

Joey cupped my cheek and wiped my tears away with his thumb. He turned to look at the mansion.

"You better watch yourself, Kaiba!" he shouted while shaking his fist at the mansion.

I also looked and saw Seto move away from the window. I sighed and looked to the ground. Joey opened the back door of Téa's car and helped me in. I put my seatbelt on as Joey jumped in beside me. Téa jumped in the driver seat and looked back at me.

"It'll be okay, Callie," she said with a small smile.

"Thanks for coming to get me, Téa," I said quietly.

Téa nodded before turning back around and driving down the road. I shifted in the seat and looked back to the Kaiba mansion. I watched it disappearing. The last thing I saw before the car turned the corner were a pair of headlights pulling over just past Seto's mansion.

I sat down on Téa's bed and sighed.

We had picked up Yugi and Tristan on the way to Téa's place. Apparently, Téa had called Yugi and told him about me calling her and he wanted to know what was happening. Then Yugi called Tristan. I did not mind. It was nice to have people who actually cared.

Joey sat down next to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. He kissed the top of my head as I watched the others make themselves comfortable around Téa's room: Yugi plopped onto a bean bag that was near the foot of the bed, Téa sat on the computer chair across from the bed and Tristan sprawled himself on the floor.

It was quiet for a moment until I spoke. "Seto said he loves me."

There were four different reactions to note after I had said that. Téa had a happy, yet sad look on her face, Tristan sat up and stared at me, while Joey tightened his grip around my shoulders. I was not game enough to look at his face. What shocked me the most was Yugi; he had a small smile on his face. I was going to question him, but Téa spoke.

"This is Seto Kaiba you're talking about, right?" Téa asked uncertainly.

"I know it seems strange, but he did."

"Did you tell him that you love him?" Joey asked quietly.

I looked at Joey but could not read the expression on his face. I sighed and shook my head.

"You don't love him?" Yugi asked from his spot on the beanbag.

"I do, Yugi. Seto wouldn't let me say anything," I said quietly, trying to fight back tears. It was working.

"Tell us what happened, Cal," Joey urged.

"Seto had organised a night, just for us. He took me on a picnic and you know, he was being really sweet and stuff. Anyway, we got back home... he told me he needed to tell me something and then he said he loved me. I must have zoned out after he said it. It wasn't intentional, but I was trying to figure out whether he was being genuine and stuff. I must have been quiet too long 'cause he went to his office. I followed him and tried to tell him that I felt the same way, but he wouldn't hear it. He told me to get out. I was just going to give it a few days, and then go back and see if he'll listen to me..."

"He kicked you out?" Tristan asked, shocked.

"To be honest, I don't think he actually meant 'get out of the house'. But he didn't stop me from walking out the front door."

"Kaiba loves someone..." Téa trailed off.

"I didn't think he'd tell you," Yugi said, still with that small smile on his face.

_Wait... He knew? _I thought in shock.

"You knew about it?" Joey asked Yugi, clearly just as shocked as me.

Yugi nodded. "Kaiba let it slip after he yelled at Callie when we were going to KaibaCorp headquarters."

"How could Kaiba let something like that slip?" Tristan asked. Clearly, he was confused.

I really did not want to talk about Seto at that point. It was still taking everything I had not to become a blubbering mess. I asked the gang if they could not talk about Seto and they agreed. They must have thought I was being a sook about the whole situation, but I could not help thinking the things that were making me upset. I was a very emotional person. It would be the same if I had a falling out of some sort with any of the gang. They were my only friends. I needed them.

"Is it okay if I stay here, Téa?" I asked. I had completely forgotten about asking her sooner.

Téa nodded. "You guys can stay too."


	12. Chapter 12

I stretched my hands over my head while letting out a long yawn. Sitting up, I looked around the room.

Téa had Joey and I sleep in the guest bedroom while Yugi stayed in her room and Tristan volunteered to sleep on the lounge. He seemed eager too, but I could not tell you why. Joey was nice enough to let me have the bed while he slept on the floor. I felt bad, but he would not hear it.

I sat up and looked down at Joey. He was sprawled out in the middle of the floor with the sheet draped over his stomach. I smiled as I heard him mumble in his sleep. I slipped out of bed and carefully walked around him. The door creaked slightly as I slowly pulled it open. I spun around and looked at Joey. He did not stir.

I glanced at the photo frames lining the hallway as I walked towards the lounge room. There was many of who I assumed was Téa when she was younger. Looking at them made me think of the photos of myself back in Australia. They were still in my old house, which was unoccupied, I assumed.

Walking into the kitchen, I was surprised to see Téa and Yugi. Téa was standing at the stove, cooking and Yugi was sitting at the breakfast bench. They were talking quietly, even though they were a good few feet apart, so I left them and walked into the lounge room.

Tristan was still snoozing on the lounge. His leg was draped over the back of it. I shook my head as I thought about how similar he and Joey were. It was no wonder that they were best friends.

"Hey, you're awake."

I spun around in shock and saw Téa standing there with a small smile on her face.

"Yeah. I didn't wanna interrupt your conversation with Yugi, so I came to wake up Tristan," I said, rubbing the back of my neck.

"It's okay Cal. I was going to do the rounds when I finished cooking breakfast. You seemed so comfortable so I didn't wanna wake you," Téa said, walking around me to the lounge Tristan was sleeping on. She poked him once in the arm. He didn't move. She poked him harder. Nothing. "Tristan quick, Callie's running around naked!"

"WHAT?" I shouted in shock as Tristan sat upright and looked around.

"What? Where?"

I face-palmed while Téa giggled to herself. I looked towards Tristan and saw that he was as red as a tomato. I guess getting excited about me supposedly running around starkers got him all embarrassed. I felt my cheek. It was red-hot. Having Tristan get excited about me naked made me a bit embarrassed too.

"That wasn't funny, Téa!" Tristan grumbled as he stood up and folded his arms. He looked around. "Where's Joey and Yugi?"

"Yugi's in the kitchen," Téa responded, standing on her toes and trying to look in the kitchen.

"And Joey's still asleep. I'll go wake him," I added as I turned and headed back towards the room Joey and I stayed in.

Pushing the door open, I was surprised to see Joey already awake. My shock withered away when I saw the look on his face. He looked sad. He was staring at his lap; he had not heard me open the door, or he had, but he was not acknowledging me.

"Joey?" I questioned quietly.

Joey's head shot up. "Oh. Hey, Cal."

I smiled softly. Stepping inside the doorway, I closed the door behind me before sitting down in front of him. His eyes never left mine. I looked at his face closely. He was not necessarily sad; he was worried.

"What's wrong?"

"I hated seein' you in the state you were in last night."

I had totally forgotten about Seto and the events of the night before. I pushed down the sadness that was creeping its way through my body and focused on Joey.

"I was so worried. As soon as I saw you, my first thought was that he'd hit you again. But I gathered he hadn't; you don't have any red marks on your face and you're not in pain..." he said quietly.

"He didn't," I clarified. "I thought he was going to at one point," I added, getting ready to stand up, "but either the thought didn't cross his mind or he stopped himself."

I went to hoist myself to my feet, but Joey put his hand on my knee.

"Listen, Callie, I know Kaiba doesn't have much patience, but I never thought he would act the way you said he did. And hitting you? Don't get me wrong; I hate the guy, but I respect your decision to be with him. I just want you to be careful. You're like my sister. I won't let any harm come to you. If he does anything, let me know."

Joey's last few words made me smile. I leant over and hugged him. I felt his arms slip around me and embrace me back. I guessed that was what a brotherly hug felt like. I liked it. I felt safe.

"Thanks, Joey." I pulled away and smiled. "Now come on, Téa's cooked breakfast."

The plates shook again as Joey kicked Tristan under the table. That had been going on for five minutes and Téa, Yugi and I were becoming fed up. I sighed loudly before shooting glares and Tristan and Joey. Tristan gave me a scared look. Joey on the other hand just shoved a fork full of egg into him mouth and grinned at me. I rolled my eyes and looked around the table.

The table itself was sort of small and round. Yugi was next to Téa with Tristan next to her. Joey was next to Tristan and I was between them, sort of. Everyone had a plate of bacon and eggs in front of him or her.

"Wanna go shopping today, Callie?" Téa asked suddenly. "The boys can go to the arcade."

I looked up from the food I had barely eaten and nodded in response. Shopping sounded like fun. I knew I was very low on clothing, now that I was not living with Seto for the time being, so shopping was a great idea. Plus it would give me some time with Téa. I thought a girl session was just what I needed.

"Maybe we can meet up when you two have finished your girly stuff and we can go to lunch somewhere," Joey piped up with a mouthful of food.

I laughed slightly and nodded. I was hoping it was going to be a good day, but something was telling me I was in for rude shock.

Looking at myself in the change room mirror, I could not help but think about why I was there trying on new clothes. I was trying on a pair of dark grey skinny jeans and a tight fitting purple T-shirt.

"Looks good," Téa commented from behind me. She was sitting on a chair placed on the opposite wall.

I sighed and nodded before turning around and looking at Téa. "Can I ask you something?"

Téa gave me a nod. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just curious; how come you're not jumping at the opportunity to slaughter Seto? I mean, Joey seems like he's just waiting to run across him so he can jump on his head."

"You know I'm not a violent person, Callie," Téa laughed. "And I would love to see Kaiba and yell in his face. But I don't think that will solve anything. I agree with what you said, about just waiting a few days."

I nodded. Violence and yelling was not going to solve anything. I just was not entirely sure that talking to Seto after a few days was going to help either. I turned back towards the mirror and looked at my appearance once again.

"I think I'm going to buy these," I said loudly, twisting my hips to check out my bum. I had to admit, it did look good.

Téa jumped up and grabbed the rather large pile of clothing that I said I was going to buy and, with a fair amount of difficulty, carried it to the counter. I laughed as I quickly moved into the change stall and changed into my skirt and top.

"That's the last of it," I said, dumping the shirt and jeans onto the counter beside the other pile of clothes, which included shirts and dresses. "I think I'll be set for a while," I added to Téa, laughing slightly.

"Yeah," she agreed. "Are you sure you have enough money?"

I flashed my bankcard before handing it to the blonde, preppy looking cashier. "You forget; I worked for Seto for a few weeks. Plus I still have money from when I sold Duke's game shop."

I punched in my pin and took my card and receipt. I shoved them in my pocket while Téa grabbed four of the eight bags containing my clothes. I grabbed the rest and we headed out the door. I suggested to Téa that we text one of the guys and see if they were ready to have lunch. We walked towards the arcade while I fumbled around with my bags and tried to get my phone out of my pocket. I managed to get it out. I started texting.

"We... are... heading... to... the... arcade..." I muttered to myself, not talking my eyes off the phone screen. I assumed Téa was going to be my eyes. I was right.

"Callie, watch out!"

She was a bit slow though. I looked up just as I bumped in to someone. We both fell to the ground and my bags and phone went flying. I groaned as my bum hit the pavement. I mentally swore at myself while I tried to compose myself.

"I'm so –"

I stopped mid sentence when I look up and saw whom I had bumped into.

"Are you two okay?" Téa piped up as she grabbed hold of my arm and helped me up.

"Yes," the brown haired, green-eyed woman in front of me said, bowing. "I am sorry; I'm late for a meeting with Seto Kaiba."

I watched as she ran into the building we were in front of: KaibaCorp. I just stared at the building, not paying any attention to what was around me. Téa shaking me slightly snapped me from my trance.

"Are you okay? You seem shocked."

She held out my phone. It seemed okay. I took it off her and just held it. I looked around and saw my bags near Téa's feet.

"That girl..." I trailed off, looking at Téa. "That's the rep I caught Seto kissing."

"He's WHAT?"

I sighed and nodded. "You heard me. I guess it is only just a meeting..."

Joey looked around the coffee shop angrily. I did not think he was looking for anything in particular for he sat back down in his seat next to Tristan and sighed. I reached across the table and patted his hand softly.

"Don't stress please, Joey?"

"Did you see Kaiba anywhere?" Yugi piped up from his spot at the end of the table.

"No," Téa responded, next to me. "That girl said she was late, so I'd say Kaiba was waiting in his office or something."

I watched Joey carefully, just in case his urge to thump Seto got the better of him. I could understand why he was so annoyed though. Why would Seto meet with that rep again? Especially after what had happened the last time he was alone with her. I just kept telling myself that what her company was offering Seto was good, which was why he arranged another meeting with her. However, I could not get rid of the sick feeling that had made itself at home in the pit of my stomach.

The gang looked at me when I stood up suddenly. I told them I was just going to the toilet and quickly made my way to the girl's bathroom. I had no intention to go to the toilet, instead, when I walked through the door, I made sure no one was using any of the cubicles before pulling out my phone and searching through my contacts.

"Hello, thank you for calling KaibaCorporation. This is Tilly," Tilly said happily when she answered my call.

I took a deep breath. "Hi, um, would I be able to speak to Seto Kaiba?" I responded in my best British accent.

My voice had faltered a bit. I was hoping she did not notice.

"I'm sorry, but Mr Kaiba is in a meeting right now."

My heart sunk quite a bit. "Oh. No problem."

"Would I be able to take a message?"

"No, it's fine. I'll call back later. Thank you."

I hung up and lent against the counter. He was still in a meeting with that girl. That was what I was assuming anyway. I racked my brain and tried to remember what her name was. Seto had said it to me at one point.

_Will you forgive me for slapping you and for kissing Torey?_

Torey. That was her name.

I looked at the clock on my phone before slipping it back into my pocket. It had been an hour since Téa and I had run into her in front of KaibaCorp. My nerves were getting the better of me. I was shaking slightly.

This happened quite a bit. Just like when I drifted off into my thoughts randomly, I had a tendency to read and think too much into things. Any normal person would just leave it as is, and think that what was going on between Seto and Torey was just a business meeting. That the kiss they had shared was just a one-off thing. I, on the other hand, could not accept that the kiss was just one-off. If what Seto said was true, and she kissed him, then maybe she would try and kiss him again. I did not know Torey, so I had no idea what kind of person she was. Maybe Seto kissed her first. Maybe had been lying to me when he said she kissed him.

I shook my head violently. I should not have been so worried about it. Seto had pretty much broken up with me. He was entitled to do what he wanted with whomever he wanted. But not even waiting a few days? Less than 24 hours later? That was low.

"Callie!"

Téa pushed the toilet door open roughly. She had a scared look on her face.

"What's wrong?"

"Joey's heading to KaibaCorp. I think he's going to hurt Kaiba!"

I cursed under my breath before making a move to follow Téa out the bathroom door. We got strange looks from the other patrons as we literally ran through the shop. Téa ran out the large wooden door and out onto the street while I grabbed my shopping bags from the table we had been sitting at. I quickly ran out the shop door and followed Téa down the street towards KaibaCorp. I was hoping Joey would not act rashly, but then, it was Joey; he had a red-hot temper. I could just see the boys about 20 metres in front of Téa, so I put on a spurt of speed, which was a bit hard as I had the shopping bags from earlier swinging wildly at my sides.

The boys suddenly turned into a building. My heart started beating wildly as I saw that they had just run into KaibaCorp.

The doors did not open quickly enough. I bumped into them and rebounded. I stumbled and watched the various KaibaCorp workers looking at me weird as I composed myself. Téa came up next to me and took a few bags out of my hands before be both pelted through the then open doors, through the lobby to the elevator.

"Do you think Joey will get in?" Téa asked me as she urgently pressed the button a few times. I could tell she was worried, not for Seto, but for Joey.

"I don't know. Depends on how angry he is..." I trailed off.

The elevator doors opened suddenly and I heard Joey shouting profanities. I bolted down the corridor, Téa hot on my tail. I saw Tilly sitting at her desk, slightly scared. Joey was pounding his fist on Seto's office door. Yugi and Tristan were standing a good distance away from Joey. Tristan looked slightly pissed off. I dropped my bags next to Tilly's desk.

"Don't worry, Tilly, I'll handle this," I said before puffing out my chest and walking towards Joey. He had not noticed I was there.

"Kaiba, you better open this door now!"

"I'm in a meeting, Wheeler!" Seto responded angrily.

Hearing Seto's voice made my heart jump. I roughly pushed it aside as I watched Joey jiggle the door handle, desperate to get in.

"Joseph!" I said loudly.

Joey spun around in shock and everything was silent. His shock was quickly overcome by anger once again as he started banging on the door again.

"Joey, just stop it, please!" I said as I tried to grab Joey's arm, but his swings were all over the place; I could not get a hold of him.

"No, Callie! He shouldn't be in there with her!" Joey yelled angrily. He stopped hitting the door and turned to face me. "He should be with you trying to work things out! He didn't even let you say that you love him!"

I had never seen Joey so angry, yet so sad. He was shaking. Running a hand through his shaggy dirty blonde hair, he sighed. I gave him a soft smile before hugging him. It warmed my heart to know that Joey cared for me that much. I loved him for that. Joey wrapped his arms around me, returning my embrace.

"Don't worry about Seto, okay?" I murmured into his collarbone.

Joey pulled me to arms length and gave me a hard look. "But Callie..."

I shook my head as I heard Seto's office door opened. I looked and there he stood, tall and proud. Seto examined his office door while I discreetly examined him. His hair was neat as were his clothes. I quickly looked at his neck. No hickeys. Seto turned to face Joey and me.

"What do you want?" Seto asked, directing his question at Joey.

"Nothing," I butted in before Joey could say anything.

Seto looked down at me. His eyes showed no emotion. "Well, leave, before I call security."

Joey gripped my arms a little tighter. I placed a hand on his chest. He looked at me.

"We're leaving now," I said quietly.

"Come on guys," I heard Yugi said quietly.

Joey turned to face Seto, who was staring at me. "Watch yourself, Kaiba."

"Didn't you use that threat last night?" Seto retaliated snidely.

Joey growled and I knew that meant it was really time to leave. I grabbed Joey's hand and pulled him away, with him resisting a bit. Picking up my bags beside Tilly's desk while not letting go of Joey's hand, I looked up at Tilly.

"I'm sorry about the gang scaring you."

"It's okay Miss Andersen. I don't think Mr Kaiba is too pleased though," Tilly said quietly, straightening up in her chair while looking towards Seto, who was watching us.

I laughed and said, "He'll get over it," while looking directly at him. Seto just stared at me.

The more we looked into each other's eyes, the more I thought about the night before, and the fact that Torey was most likely still sitting in his office. I quickly looked away from him and pulled Joey down the corridor to the elevator. I heard the gang trotting along behind us. The gang just made it in before the doors closed.

"Well, that was a fun way to kill some time," Tristan said sarcastically.

I turned to face him, and that was when I saw the left side of his face. A black eye was forming.

"What happen to you?" I asked curiously.

Tristan huffed and looked to the side angrily. I tilted my head to the side in confusion.

"Joey hit him," Yugi said quietly. "Tristan was trying to stop Joey from hitting Kaiba's door and Joey spun around and punched him."

I looked at Joey sadly as the elevator doors opened behind Téa and me, Yugi and Tristan walked out. Joey lifted his head and walked past me and as he did, he grabbed my hand gently and pulled me along with him. We stopped just outside the doors of KaibaCorp and just stood there quietly for a minute. I did not know what to say; my mind was still reeling with what had happened the night before. Seto did not show any emotion when he looked at me and I did not know what to think of it.

"Are you okay, Callie?" Yugi asked suddenly.

I jumped in surprise. "Yeah, why?"

"You look really pale," Téa said worriedly.

I shrugged, not really knowing what to say. The orange glow of the sun set somehow made me feel a bit better about my situation with Seto. I only wanted him to be happy, and if he was most happy with Torey, then so be it.

I flexed my hands and it was then that I realised Joey had let go.

"Guys, I'm gonna go for a walk, okay?" I said quietly.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Tristan asked, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I smiled and nodded before turning to face Joey. "I just wanna have a quick word with Joey first."

The gang took the hint and started walking down the street. Joey did not look up at me as I stood in front of him. I gently grabbed his hand. He looked up at me and my breath caught in my throat. Joey's eyes shone so brightly in the setting sun light. His hair almost looked pure yellow. Even though his eyes were so bright, I could see the sadness behind them. I smiled up at him, hoping he would give me one in return. The corners of his lips twitched slightly and my smile widened. I let go of his hand and wrapped my arms around his neck. His arms snaked their way around my waist.

"Thank you for caring for me so much, Joey," I said with the smile still on my face. "But was running in there and trying to break Seto's door down really necessary?"

Joey pulled away and sighed. "The fact that he was with that girl, even if it was just a meeting, really annoyed me. And even though you didn't show it, I knew you were upset by it, Callie. That made me sad. I thought that maybe, if I had scared Kaiba by bursting in, he would realise he's being a dick about this whole situation and try and work things out with you."

I took in Joey's words and I asked the question that had been bothering me since I first ran into Torey.

"Did you hear anything before you tried to bash the door in?"

"All I heard was Kaiba talking quietly; I couldn't hear what he was sayin'. If I heard them goin' at it, I don't know what I would have done," Joey said with raw anger in his voice.

I knew Joey was angry, but it made me feel better to know that Joey had not heard Seto and Torey doing anything indecent. Having Joey hold me, made me not want to be alone, so I ditched the idea of taking a walk by myself. Looking at the sky, my decision was not a bad one; there were heavy clouds rolling overhead.

"C'mon, let's catch up with the gang."


	13. Chapter 13

Someone once said distance makes the heart grow fonder. Well, they were right.

The next morning, I woke up and despite what had happened the day before, I was even more in love with Seto. Maybe it was because my mind was telling me I could no longer have him, so my heart wanted what it could not have. It killed me to know that Seto was with Torey, well, that is what I was assuming. The more I thought about it, the more I thought back to when I caught Seto and Torey kissing. From what I had known of Seto, he would never kiss someone if he did not like them, even if the other person kissed him first. Then, I had always thought he would never fall in love, so it threw me off.

I realised I really did not know what Seto was really like. It killed me.

"Callie? Joey?"

I closed my eyes as I heard the door open.

"What's wrong, Téa?" Joey asked from his spot on the floor. I had no idea he was awake.

"Mokuba wants to see Callie. But I can tell him to come back if she's still asleep," Téa said quietly.

My heart jumped at Mokuba's name. With everything that had been going on, I had totally forgotten about him. Maybe he wanted to see what was going on between Seto and me. I assumed Seto did not tell Mokuba everything about what had happened, if anything at all.

I opened my eyes and slowly sat up.

"You're awake," Joey said, smiling up at me.

"Yeah, why's Mokuba here? Did he say why he wanted to see me?" I inquired, swinging my legs over the edge of the bed.

"No, but he did give me this..." Téa trailed off. She held out what looked like a newspaper that I had not noticed her holding.

Joey grabbed it before I could get up and scanned the front page. Anger was slowly beginning to show on his face. After a few seconds, I opened my mouth to say something, but I quickly shut it when Joey threw the paper down in front of him. He jumped up and pushed past Téa while muttering, "I'm comin' for you, Kaiba."

I leapt off the bed and grabbed the paper while saying to Téa, "Stop him before he gets hurt! Don't let him leave the house!"

Téa nodded and ran down the hallway, calling after Joey. I took one look at the front page of the paper and gasped.

_NEW LOVES FOR ANDERSEN AND KAIBA?_

_A reliable source has leaked that multi-million dollar business CEO Seto Kaiba's girlfriend, Caledonia Andersen has left him for another duellist, Joseph Wheeler. Andersen and Wheeler were spotted outside KaibaCorporation yesterday in a tight embrace. They then proceeded to walk down the street, hand in hand._

_Kaiba did not waste any time finding someone else to fill the void; our source has informed us that Kaiba's new love interest is Torey Donavon, a highly respected representative for Chrome Industries. It is unknown how long the two have been dating, but the details that have been put forward are intimate._

In the middle of the text was a photo of Joey and me hugging. There was also a picture of Torey, which made my blood run cold. I ran out of the room, down the hallway and into the living room and saw the gang standing unusually close to Joey and Mokuba standing close by, looking helpless. Joey looked like he was ready to kill someone.

"Mokuba," I said, which made everyone turn to look at me. I held up the paper. "Is this why you wanted to see me?"

Mokuba nodded slowly. "And I was wondering if you could come home. Seto's locked himself in his office."

"He's probably working, Mokuba. Nothing to worry about," I smiled.

"Yeah," Yugi said reassuringly. "Kaiba's fine."

"I guess..." Mokuba sighed, looking at his feet. "It's just, he was supposed to be in a meeting this morning and he's been in his office since last night."

I looked around and found a clock on the wall. _12.45? Did I sleep in that long?_

"I know you and Seto aren't together, Callie, but he always listens to you."

I hesitated. I knew Mokuba was worried about his big brother, but how was I supposed to help? I looked at Mokuba and he had hope gleaming in his eyes. The gang were looking at me too, waiting for an answer. I sighed, nodded and looked down at my pyjamas.

"Okay. But I'm not getting changed. I'm not making myself pretty for him."

"Callie? Are you sure you want to go?" Joey said seriously, walking over to me. "Me, Yugi and Tristan can go see what's going on with Kaiba."

I carefully examined Joey, standing there in his jeans, shirtless. We he really going to run to the Kaiba mansion dressed like that. I shook my head with a small smile before telling him that I'd go see what was happening. The gang offered to join me.

It was a very quiet ride in the limo. I did not know what everyone else was thinking about, but I knew what my thoughts were. What the hell was I going to say to Seto? 'Hi. Mokuba wanted me to see if you were okay. Hope everything is going well with Torey. Have a good day'.

The limo pulled up and we all piled out. Mokuba ran towards the front door, not looking back at us. I looked at the gang before running after Mokuba. Through the front door and up the staircase, I slowed down a bit, mainly because I really did not want to see Seto. I was hoping he had left his office and was at KaibaCorp. Mokuba stopped in front of Seto's office door and knocked. I stopped next to him and waited. I heard shuffling from inside the room but no words were uttered. My heart jumped at the thought that maybe he had Torey in there with him, naked, on the sofa, their sweaty bodies pressed against each other...

I roughly shook my head, trying to get those images out of my head. I tightened my fist around the roll of newspaper that was still in my hand and took a deep breath. Before I could raise my hand to pound my fist on the door, a hand was placed firmly on my shoulder. Looking around, I saw Téa standing there with a comforting smile on her face.

"If he does anything, we'll be right here. But you don't have to do this."

"I didn't think this would upset you, Callie," Mokuba said quietly.

I smiled at him and ruffled his hair. My fist hit the door a few times rather hard. No response. I tried my luck with the door handle. To my surprise, it was unlocked. I pushed the door open and closed it behind me. Not looking up, I said loudly, "Mokuba wanted me to see if you were okay. Apparently, you were supposed to be in a meeting this morning. I know you would never miss a meeting, so something must be majorly wrong. I'm sorry if I have disturbed you and Torey, I'm only here 'cause Mokuba was worried. So don't yell at me."

I stood there, waiting for the yells. However, they were not heard. I looked up.

Seto's office was a total mess. Papers thrown all over the floor and a broken photo frame leaning against the wall. Seto's trench coat was on the floor. And there was Seto, sitting at his desk, staring at me, clearly shocked. His normally neat, brown hair was tousled, as if he had run his hand through it too many times, his blue eyes were so sad. He had is laptop open in front of him.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

Seto looked down at his laptop before spinning at around so I could see it. I slowly walked towards his desk, leant down and had a look. The news article was on the front of the paper. I sighed before standing up and placed the paper that was in my hand on the desk.

"You've seen it." Seto's voice was raspy and tired.

I nodded. "I've seen it." I turned from the desk and took a few steps. "It was a good plan. Pretending to be some amateur journalist and telling the biggest news publisher in the country that I'm the one that left you, just so you don't lose face."

"I didn't do this, Callie," Seto said quietly. "I found out about this last night. I did everything in my power to prevent this story being printed."

"If you weren't behind this, why would you care if it was printed or not?" I questioned, spinning around to face Seto. "They got the basis of the story right; we broke up and you're with Torey-"

"I'm not involved with her."

He said that statement so matter-of-factly, that I just stared at him, lost for words. Seto stood up and walked around his desk towards me. I backed up and he matched my movements until I hit the wall.

_Damn it! _

Seto stopped a few steps away from me, which shocked me. I did not know what I was expecting him to do, but that was not it. He looked so vulnerable. His usual cold composure had been replaced by one of tiredness, he actually looked like he had been crying, or he was about to.

"I didn't want this story to be published because I knew you would see it and it would ruin any chance of getting you back. I heard you and Wheeler outside my office at KaibaCorp yesterday. Why didn't you tell me you love me?"

I just stood there, trying to register what he had just said.

"Wait. Rewind. You want me back. Or did I misinterpret what you said?"

Seto opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by the door opening.

"Callie, are you okay? Everythin' went quiet."

Joey appeared and was a bit taken a-back by the state of Seto's office. I did not think he realised Seto and I were right next to him.

"Jeez, Kaiba, was it that rough?"

I did not have time to react.

Seto spun on the spot, his fist raised.

Joey turned to look at Seto, he actually looked quite angry. However, his expression changed once he saw Seto's fist travelling closer.

Seto's fist connected with the side of Joey's face.

He hit the ground with a thud. I clapped a hand to my mouth as Mokuba, Téa, Yugi and Tristan ran into the room. Tristan tried to help Joey up but he pushed his hand away and slowly got to his feet. Joey spat blood onto Seto's carpet, probably knowing it would piss Seto off. I knew I had to step in, but Téa beat me to it.

"Why did you hit him, Kaiba?" she shouted in his face. "Joey hasn't done anything wrong!"

"Would you lot get out?"

I took that opportunity to sneak past Seto and get to Joey. I roughly pulled on his arm to get him to follow me. He resisted stubbornly, that is until I glared at him. He let me pull him out into the hallway. I looked at his face and sighed. A black eye was forming. A small line of blood was dribbling from the corner of his mouth.

"Do you have to provoke him, Joey?" I said, wiping the blood off his mouth.

Joey huffed and looked away. "It was a lucky shot. I could take him, Callie. Give him what he deserves."

"He said he's not with her. I assume that's what you were so mad about when you read it?"

"He's lyin'! You gotta know that! He told the paper that you left him so he wouldn't look like the asshole!"

Joey was fuming. His face was getting redder. I could not tell what he was madder about; the thought that Seto was supposedly with Torey, or that it was splashed on the front of a newspaper. I put my hand on his shoulder before kissing his cheek.

"Calm down, please?" I said quietly. Joey looked at me and his eyes softened. "Go down stairs and wait, I'll talk to Seto alone –"

"No. Not alone."

"I'll be fine. Just go to the living room and calm down. And raid Seto's kitchen for some ice to put on your eye."

I walked away before Joey could say anything. I walked into Seto's office just as Téa, Yugi and Tristan walked out. Téa looked pissed off while Yugi and Tristan looked scared. I gave Yugi a questioning look, but he just shook his head. I told him to take Joey and Téa to the living room and keep them there. He obeyed and headed down the hallway towards the staircase with Joey, Téa and Tristan following suit. I sighed before looking around Seto's office. The room was just as it was when I left, except Seto was leaning against his desk, his head in his hands. Mokuba was in the middle of the room.

"Seto?"

Seto and Mokuba looked up at me. Mokuba quickly turned on his heel and headed towards me.

"I'll leave you two to talk," he said quietly as he walked past me.

The door closed behind me. Seto did not move from his spot against the desk. I also stayed rooted to the spot. Every instinct was telling me to just run at him and kiss him like a mad woman, but I could not. I knew that would not achieve anything. He looked like he was thinking the same thing.

"Are you with Wheeler?"

Maybe he was not thinking the same thing I was. He sounded so hurt. If he was so upset about the thought me be and Joey being involved with each other then he could not have tipped off the newspaper. Then again, he could have been faking. Nevertheless, I shook my head and looked at the broken photo frame absentmindedly.

"Why would I be with someone else? I love you, Seto Kaiba. I know I didn't say it when you told me you loved me, and I'm sorry. I was just registering what you said. This whole thing has become a total mess and I don't know what to –"

My head being pulled up and a pair of soft lips crashing onto mine cut me off. I stood there, shocked for a fraction of a second, before closing my eyes and kissing him back with everything I had. It felt so good to have his lips touch mine again. Seto pushed into me and forced me to walk back until I hit the door. He pinned me there while shoving his tongue into my mouth hungrily. I ran my fingers through his hair as my tongue danced with his. I was brought back to my senses as I heard a yell of anger and pain coming from down stairs. I pulled away from Seto quickly.

"Don't push it so hard, Téa!" Joey's voice shouted as it drifted up the hallway.

"Will you shut it? Or you can do it yourself!"

I snickered before pushing Seto away from me gently. "We need to talk about all this."

Seto sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Alright."

I helped Seto pick up all his papers and we sat down on the lounge. It was quiet for a few seconds.

"Have you ever been with Torey?"

I had to ask. It had been bothering me. I had to know the truth.

"No." He sounded so sure of himself.

I looked at him, trying to read his body language in an attempt to see if he was lying, but his face was calm, his hands and feet were still. I guess he really was telling the truth, and I was just thinking too much. In the end, I nodded in acceptance and looked away. Seto gently grabbed my chin and turned my head to look at him again. He kissed me softly and I returned it eagerly. His touch was so soft, as if he did not want to apply any pressure on me. It was strange considering it felt like he wanted to ravage me not 5 minutes beforehand. Everything I wanted to say to him just flew out the back door of my brain as we stayed lip locked.

"Are you two back together?"

I roughly pushed away from Seto in shock before turning to face Mokuba, who had his head peeping around the door. He had a strange look on his face, as if he was trying to contain a smile. I nodded and my thoughts were confirmed as a broad smile crossed his face. He ran into the room and leaped onto my lap, hugging me tightly. I returned his hug while sneaking a peak at Seto. He had a soft smile on his face as he looked at Mokuba. He must have loved seeing Mokuba happy.

"We never broke up..." Seto trailed off. I stared at Seto. "Well, I never told you it was over. Will you stay with us again?"

Mokuba moved away from me and grabbed my arm, pulling on it gently. "Please stay, Callie?"

I nodded and smiled, "Of course."

"Do the geeks really have to be here?" Seto asked as Joey's cry of pain echoed up the hallway.

"Téa took me in, Seto. And the others kept me company. If you're shipping them out, I'm going too," I said matter-of-factly. "I'm gonna go down and see what Joey's whinging about."

I stood up, headed out the door and down the hallway. Hearing soft footsteps following closely, I slowed down a bit and looked back. Mokuba caught up and matched my pace. He did not say anything as we descended the stairs.

"Do you think Callie's killed Kaiba?" Téa asked from her spot on the single recliner closest to the stairs.

The lounge room was set out in a 'U' shape with the 3 seater lounge along the back wall. Yugi and Joey were on the lounge with Tristan on the other recliner.

"Depends if she's still upset with him," Yugi said quietly. "It has gotten quiet up there."

"I didn't kill him," I said loudly. They all jumped and looked towards Mokuba and me. I walked over and plopped down between Yugi and Joey. "So why'd you scream that time?"

Joey huffed, "Tristan poked me."

"Hey!" Tristan interjected. "Payback for hitting me yesterday!"

"That is fair payment," Mokuba piped up from beside the recliner Téa was sitting on.

Joey looked at Mokuba slightly shocked, before sulking back into the lounge and folding his arms. I looked at his eye. It had gotten worse over the few minutes he had been down stairs. I noticed a discarded tea towel over Joey's knee. It looked like it was damp. I guessed that was what they had wrapped the ice in.

The silence that had set in the lounge room was broken by a knock on the door. We all jumped in fright and watched Mokuba run to the front door. He opened it, nodded, then turned back to us and said, "I'm going to Toby's for the afternoon. Seto knows. I'll see you later!" before running out the door.

"Bye, Mokuba!" I shouted, even though I knew he could not hear me.

"Wanna play a game?" Tristan said suddenly. We all looked him curiously. "What? I'm bored."

"Well, what do you want to play?" Yugi asked.

"Truth or dare?" Téa suggested.

We all agreed and moved to the floor. Do not know why, I guess it was just instinct to play sleep-over type games sitting in a circle on the floor. To be honest, playing truth or dare always made me giddy. Whenever I played the game with Arden and Demiah, we always had really messed up dares and the truths were always typical teenage sort of questions. I had no idea what the gang were going to be like once we got into it.

"I'll go first!" Joey said eagerly. "Yugi, truth or dare?"

"Uhh, truth?" Yugi offered nervously.

"Who do you have a crush on?"

_I saw that one coming._

Yugi did not respond straight away. He had his hands in his lap, not daring to look at the Joey and the grin that was plastered on his face. Téa was also looking at Yugi eagerly. Yugi finally looked ahead of him.

"Téa," he whispered.

Téa looked like she was trying to hide a smile, but her bright red cheeks gave her away. Yugi was bright red too.

"Aww!" I said happily. "You two are so cute!"

The redness in their cheeks intensified. I looked at Joey to see him sitting there, rather smug with himself. I slapped his knee and gave him a hard look, silently telling him that I knew he knew Yugi and Téa liked each other. I then turned to Yugi and nudged him. "Your turn."

Yugi bowed his head for a few moments, and then turned his attention to Téa. "Do you wanna take my turn?"

Téa seemed incredibly happy with Yugi's offer. She nodded before turning her attention to the rest of us. Her eyes moved past Tristan, past Joey and stopped on me.

_Oh, no._

Téa's eyes lit up as a grin slowly started to form on her face. I gulped and waited for her to ask.

"Truth or dare, Callie?"

I clenched my teeth as I weighed up my options. If I answered truth, there was a strong possibility Téa would ask about Seto's personal life, and mine and I was not sure I wanted to divulge it. If I answered dare, well, I honestly did not know what would happen. I doubted Téa would be the sort of person that would think of something perverted for me to do. I sighed and hung my head.

"Dare."

"I dare you to go to Kaiba's room, grab one of his trench coats and wear it for the rest of the game."

I stared at Téa while she sat there with a smug look on her face. Was she serious? What if I ripped it or something? Seto would murder me. Nevertheless, it was a dare, so I had to do it. I sighed before hoisting myself up. Téa still had a smile on her face as I headed towards the stairs. The stairs made soft creaks as I ascended them. Typical; I did not want Seto to know I was heading up the stairs in an attempt to borrow one of his trench coats for a bit, so the stairs start creaking, just to annoy me. Walking past Seto's office, I listened carefully for any indication of Seto preparing to leave the room. All I heard was furious typing. He must have been busy.

I crept into his bedroom and made a run for the walk-in robe. The door squeaked slightly as I pulled them open before stepping in, scanning the rows of clothes for any of Seto's trenches. For someone who hardly wore anything other than his coats, turtlenecks and pants, he sure had a lot of clothes. And they were not just long sleeved tops and pants; there were t-shirts and suits and quite a few pairs of normal shorts.

Seto's trench coats were stashed at the back of the robe, which I thought was odd, but hey, I was not going to judge Seto on the layout of his cupboard. I found his dark blue one as well as his purple one. There was a jacket I had never seen before. It was very similar to Seto's white trench coat, only this one was black. I carefully pulled it from the row of clothing and slipped it onto my shoulders. The bottom folded itself at my feet. I honestly did not think I was that short. I shrugged and quietly made my way out of the room, making sure I closed the door behind me. I was sure Seto heard the soft thuds of my feet running along the hallway, despite my trying to be quiet. Trotting down the stairs, I felt the end of the trench coat being picked up by the wind I was creating. To be honest, I felt pretty awesome.

I reached the bottom of the stairs and saw the gang talking amongst themselves. Putting on my best Seto voice I stepped forward and said loudly, "Yugi, I challenge you to a duel!"

They looked at me and laughed. I smiled before spinning around on the spot.

"Are you sure that's Kaiba's trench?" Joey asked suddenly. "I've never seen him wear it."

"Well, it was in his cupboard with his other ones. Maybe this is a special one," I speculated before getting a huge grin on my face. "And I'm wearing it!"

"Maybe it's his defeat trench," Tristan piped up. "He only wears it when Yugi whoops his ass."

The gang erupted with laughter. I stood there and shook my head.

"Don't be mean-"

"What are you doing in my trench coat?"

I screamed and spun around as the gang quickly shut up. Seto was standing at the base of the stairs with his arms folded, giving me an intense glare.

_Ohh, shit. I'm in trouble. _"Um, we're playing Truth or Dare. I was dared to wear one of your trench coats," I said, meekly, slightly afraid Seto was going to start yelling at me.

"C'mon, Kaiba," Joey said suddenly from his spot on the floor. "Don't get your knickers in a knot. Callie wouldn't wreck your jacket."

"Watch what you say, Wheeler; you're in my house," Seto shot back. Joey growled and folded his arms. Seto stepped forward and walked around me. "You lot are playing Truth or Dare? How old are you?"

I put my hands on my hips. "I'll be too old for it when I'm 21."

"Kaiba, you should play," Yugi said with a smile.

Seto snickered. "Yeah, I'll be right. I have a company to run. I only came down to see what was going on. I'll see you dweebs later no doubt." He walked back around me and began walking up the stairs

"I'm gonna go put Seto's coat back, I don't wanna wreck it," I said before turning on my heel.

"You're a wuss!" Téa called out as I followed Seto.

"Shut up, Téa!" I yelled back. "Can you not call the gang 'dweebs'? They are my friends," I added quietly to Seto as we reached the top of the stairs.

"Well that's what they are," Seto said.

"So does that mean I'm a dweeb 'cause I hang out with them?" I asked, sounding hurt.

Before Seto could respond, I walked ahead of him. I was not really upset; I just liked to screw around. I really did not care if Seto thought I was a dweeb, but I honestly did not think Seto would have been involved with me if he thought I was.

I was caught by surprise by Seto coming up behind me, spinning me around and pinning me against the wall. He pressed his forehead against mine before softly brushing his lips across mine. It made me shiver. He pulled away from me and smirked.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" I asked, looking into his eyes.

Seto moved away from me and shrugged before walking towards his office. I glared at his back hoping that he would feel it. He did not. Either that or he was exceptionally good at hiding his uneasiness. I pushed myself away from the wall and headed into Seto's room. Slipping the trench coat off my shoulders, I looked in the walk-in robe, trying to find where I had pulled the coat. There was a vacant hanger towards the back of the robe. As I put the coat back in amongst the line of clothes, I heard quick footsteps enter the room.

"Callie?"

I stepped out and saw Seto standing near the door. He was holding his briefcase. One thought came into mind: KaibaCorp.

"You have to go?" I asked glumly.

Seto shot me a sympathetic smile before walking over to me. He stroked my cheek with two fingers before placing his lips on mine softly. As I started to return his kiss, he pulled away.

"I'm sorry, Cal. I'll be back as soon as I can. Then we'll have a proper talk," he said while running his fingers through my hair.

"Okay," I murmured. "I love you."

"I love you too babe."

Seto gave me one last kiss before rushing out of the room. His footsteps echoed down the hallway. I followed Seto quickly, just in case he and Joey began butting heads. I reached the bottom of the stairs as the front door closed. The gang were sitting where I had left them in utter silence.

"Do you guys know what we can do?" I asked loudly.

The gang looked at me before shaking their heads. Sighing, I walked over and plopped down into a recliner. The gang got up off the floor and followed suit. I could not blame them. The lounge and recliners were much more comfortable than the floor. Yugi and Tristan sat on the lounge, Téa took the other recliner and Joey sat on the arm of my recliner. It was silent for a bit, I assumed they were thinking about what we could do.

"I've got it!" I shouted suddenly, jumping up, which caused Joey to fall off the arm of the chair. "Sorry Joey. We could have a sleepover. I know it's childish, but it'll be fun. We can play games and tell ghost stories and all that."

"Sounds good," Joey stated as he hoisted himself off the floor.

"Where are we having it?" Tristan asked.

"Oh, that's easy; here. Seto won't mind," I responded, jumping up and down on the spot like a maniac. Joey placed his hand on my shoulder and pushed me down while mumbling something about me being weird. I shot him a dirty look before sitting forward and telling the gang was going on.

We agreed to have the sleepover at the mansion. The gang were going to return at 6pm. That gave me a good two hours to get the lounge room sorted out. During the discussion, I realised I was still in my pyjamas. Téa said she would bring the clothes I had bought the day before.

Joey and Tristan began arguing about who was going to sleep where and Yugi tried to settle them down. Téa was shaking her head. I watched them with a small smile on my face. The thought that the sleepover would be my first one with boys since I was 14 made me think back to that night.

My adoptive mum had gone out for the night so I had invited Arden, Demiah and their boyfriends around to spend the night. I had also asked my boyfriend at the time, Tyler, to attend. All this was without my mum knowing because I did not think she would be back until late the next day. My mum had come back early the next morning and found us all in the lounge room. I could not say that I was the most submissive child when I was lectured about being with boys while there were no adults around.

My smile grew at the memory of my adoptive mother. Lauren took me into her home and raised me, accepted me as her daughter and yet, in return I always seemed to make her mad. I supposed that showed I was a typical teenager. I could feel my eyes watering.

"Callie? You alright?" Yugi asked from beside me, shaking me out of my thoughts.

I jumped slightly and let a few tears fall. I quickly wiped my face and looked at Joey, who gave me a small smile.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I should start moving lounges, shouldn't I?" I said quickly while standing up and stretching.

"We'll head off then," Téa said as she stood up.

I nodded and watched the gang leave before turning back to the lounge room. I sighed loudly. The lounge looked pretty heavy. I pulled the lounge to the side of the room along with the two recliners. I managed to stub my toe at least four times. My toe was throbbing in pain. After hobbling over to the entertainment unit, I turned on the stereo then went and plopped on the lounge. No sooner I had made myself comfortable, _Points of Authority_ by _Linkin Park_ came on the radio. I had to get up, sing along, and pretend I was on a stage in front of a large crowd.


	14. Chapter 14

I danced around to a few songs before finally collapsing on one of the recliners in a sweat. I closed my eyes for a few seconds before snapping them open when I heard something come from the foyer. I sat up and saw Seto standing in the entrance to the lounge room with a small smile on his face.

"How long have you been there?" I asked. I stood up and walked towards Seto.

"Long enough to hear you sing. You're great, Callie," Seto smiled before reaching out and grabbing my hand. He pulled me into him and crashed his lips onto mine in a quick, but passionate kiss. He looked around the lounge room when he pulled away. "What are you doing to my lounge room?"

"Me and the gang are having a sleepover here!" I beamed.

Seto gave me a hard look. "Why?"

"I haven't had a sleepover in such a long time and I thought it would be fun."

Seto sighed. I could not tell if he was angry. I knew he was not too fond of the thought of the gang spending the night in his house, even though I told the gang that he would be fine with it. It rather upset me to know that Seto did not like the idea of me having a sleepover with the gang. I got out of Seto's hold and headed up the stairs. I had a plan.

"Callie? What's wrong?" Seto asked from behind me.

I increased my speed and ran into Seto's room. I closed the door before running over and closing the curtains. A few seconds later, the door opened and Seto stepped in. Before he had a chance to turn on the light, I ran at him. I leapt up and wrapped my legs around his waist. Seto stumbled back a bit but managed to steady himself. He gripped my thighs and pressed his lips against mine. I clung onto him as he walked forward. He lent forward a few steps later and rested my head on something soft. He never broke the kiss. My legs left his waist as my fingers trailed down his chest. Seto's lips made their way to my neck as he cupped my breast through my shirt.

"Let me... take you..." Seto murmured roughly between kisses.

I was about to respond when I heard a voice from down stairs.

"Hey, Callie? You here?"

"Yugi," Seto muttered in annoyance before climbing off me and sitting on the edge of the bed. "Always ruins everything."

I sat up and patted Seto's thigh. "Don't worry, Seto. You'll get a chance to have me."

Seto nodded. I smiled at him before standing up and walking out into the hallway. The sound of music drifted up from the lounge room. The beat flowed through me as I started singing along. I hopped down the stairs to be greeted by shocked looks. I immediately stopped singing and gave the gang a shocked look.

"You have a really good voice," Tristan commented.

"You think so?" I asked. The gang nodded in unison. "Arden said the same thing to me last year. She took me to her dad's recording studio and I did a cover of a Kelly Clarkson song. Everyone who heard me said I should start singing more. Someone even offered to distribute any demos I wanted to make. I said no."

It was quiet for a minute. I stepped forward to go sit on the lounge when Joey piped up. "You are such an idiot."

"Well, that's the pot calling the kettle black," Tristan said snidely.

"Shut up, Tristan. Just imagine if you had taken up their offer. You could be a well known singer."

"I think I get enough publicity being with Seto," I laughed. "Where's all your stuff?"

Yugi pointed to the corner of the lounge room. Four sleeping bags and overnight bag were piled up. My shopping bags were resting against everything else. I suggested to the boys that they go play the PlayStation while Téa and I had girl time.

"You know you have a hickey on your neck, right?" Téa said absentmindedly as she gazed at Yugi verse Joey in _Gran Turismo 5_.

"You serious?" I asked as I clapped a hand to my neck.

Téa focused her attention back on me and laughed, probably because I had a look of horror on my face. "Yep. Looks fresh. It wasn't there before. Is Kaiba here? You two were at it?"

My face suddenly became serious. I looked to the floor. "We haven't done it..." I murmured. I did not know whether I should tell her what had happened to me. I was scared she would judge me. I looked up at Téa. She had a confused, yet shocked look. I took a deep breath. "I'm scared to get too close to Seto..."

I told Téa about everything; the kidnapping, the rape and the ransom. She was an incredibly good listener. It felt good to talk about it to someone else. Joey must have overheard me because no sooner had I mentioned being kidnapped, I had him, Tristan and Yugi looking at me. I always had thoughts that people might have thought it was a bit attention seeking to be talking about what had happened to me. Nevertheless, those four were my best friends. I knew they would not tell anyone.

"... I've been lucky; me and Seto haven't gotten too far into it for a while, so I don't get freaked out."

"Kaiba knows about all this, doesn't he?" Yugi asked.

"He knows about the rape. He doesn't know about my fears... I don't think," I said quietly. "I'll cross that bridge when I get to it."

Tristan opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the front door opening. I looked towards the foyer and saw Mokuba walk in. He stood in the opening to the lounge room and gaped.

"Hey Mokuba!" Yugi called.

"Hey guys..." Mokuba said uncertainly. "What are you doing here?"

I got up and walked over to him. "We're having a sleepover! Isn't it great?"

"And Seto's okay with this?"

"Yep. I didn't give him much choice," I said proudly.

The sound of tyres screeching on tar filled the lounge room. The boys must have continued their game. I focused my attention back on Mokuba and ruffled his hair. It was then that I noticed that he looked sad. I crouched down in front of him and gave him a soft look.

"Are you okay?"

Mokuba looked up at me. "You and Seto are all better aren't you? You're not putting on a big show to make me happy?"

What would make him think that? I knew that Seto and I did not have the most stable relationship, but if there were problems between him and me, I would never tell Mokuba that things were fine to keep him happy.

"Your brother and I are fine, Mokuba," I smiled. "Thank you for coming to get me this morning. If you didn't, I'd probably still be stressing about Seto."

Mokuba nodded. "I love you, Callie."

"Aww, I love you too, sweetie."

For a little kid, Mokuba could sure hug tight. I hugged him back tightly. I heard him sniffle in my ear. Pulling him to arms length, I saw a lone tear making its way down Mokuba's cheek.

"I haven't had someone say that to me in a long time," he whispered.

"What?" I said in shock. "Your brother doesn't tell you he loves you?"

"No. It makes me think he doesn't love me," Mokuba confessed.

"I'm sure he loves you, Mokuba. He probably thinks that saying it will make him seem weak," I guessed. I was at a loss as to why Seto would not tell his own brother that he loved him.

"But he always says it to you..."

"Now, that I can't explain. But I'll talk to him, okay? Now go and play _Gran Turismo_ with the boys and kick Wheeler's butt!"

Mokuba nodded before kissing me on the cheek. He walked past me and joined the boys in front of the TV. I smiled as I stood up and followed him. I sat down next to Téa, who was watching the boys again, more specifically, Yugi.

"Stop perving, Téa," I whispered smugly.

Téa jumped and quickly averted her eyes. I snickered as Téa's cheeks began to develop a red tinge. My grin intensified. Téa looked at me and slapped my arm. She found a way to get off that subject.

"So what happen with you and Kaiba in his office?"

I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. "He said that he was never with Torey."

"What about the paper?"

"Apparently he was trying to stop it from getting published."

"Do you believe him?"

I did not answer her. I could not. Did I believe him? Maybe I was so desperate to have him back that my mind did not want to think about the possibility of him having been with someone else; that I just told myself I was reading too much into it before. I guessed I did believe him. He did seem genuine. I gave Téa a slight nod, only because I could not convince myself that I believed him.

Téa and I continued with our girly chat for a good hour or so until I looked at the clock. It was nearly 9pm. I clapped my hands loudly, scaring the boys, who were all playing _LittleBigPlanet_.

"It's time for bed Mokuba. Chop, chop."

"Aw, but-" Mokuba started but was cut off.

"No buts! Your brother doesn't want you to stay up till all hours of the morning. You have school," I said sternly. "Go get ready and I'll tuck you in soon."

Mokuba nodded and got up. He mumbled incoherent things on his way to and up the stairs. I stood up and stretched.

"Now, it's time for ghost stories, so I'll go get a torch."

"Well hurry up!" Tristan said irritably, not diverting his attention from the TV.

"Sir, yes, Sir!" I shouted as I saluted.

Téa laughed as I turned on my heel and marched towards the stairs.

"You're a fruit loop," Yugi laughed.

"I know, Yuge!" I called as I headed up the stairs, still marching.

While continuing up the stairs, I remembered I had left Seto on his bed well over two hours beforehand. It shocked me he had not joined us down stairs, even if it was just to make sure we were not making a mess. He did not even see if Mokuba was home. I figured Seto was in his office so that was my first stop. I put my ear near the door. It was quiet. I knocked on the door before letting myself in.

Seto was leaning back in his chair with his eyes closed. He looked stressed. I stood there examining him for a second before closing the door behind me. Seto did not open his eyes. I walked over and around his desk and sat on it.

"Hey Seto," I chirped.

"You know, you didn't have to knock," Seto said, opening his eyes. He gazed at me with a small smile on his face.

"Meh," I shrugged.

Seto stood up and moved in front of me. "So what brings you here, Miss Andersen?" he asked.

"Well, Mr Kaiba, I just wanted to know if you had a torch anywhere. And what have you been doing for the past two hours?"

"I've been working. Why do you want a torch?" Seto asked, moving in between my legs.

"Because we're going to tell ghost stories. It's more traditional to use a torch," I replied while wrapping my arms around his neck.

"I'm sure I have one in here somewhere. But for now..."

The gap between Seto and I diminished as he covered my lips with his. He rested a hand on my thigh while the other one made its way up the back of my neck. I pulled him closer as he shoved his tongue in my mouth.

KNOCK, KNOCK.

"Hey, Callie, hurry up!"

My teeth quickly came down on Seto's tongue in a rough bite. He pulled away from me roughly and swore pretty loudly. I hopped off the desk and tried to see inside Seto's mouth as he opened and closed it.

"I'm so sorry!"

"Don't worry, Callie. Go see them and I'll grab the torch."

I ran over to the door and opened it, only to jump back as Joey fell flat on his face.

"Have a nice trip?" I laughed.

"Shut up, Callie," Joey huffed as he hoisted himself up. "What were you two doing?"

"Is it any of your business, Wheeler?" Seto asked, beside me. He held out a torch in front of me. "Is Mokuba home?"

Mokuba. I had totally forgotten about tucking him in. I grabbed the torch off Seto and told the gang to meet me down stairs. I squeezed past them and made my way to Mokuba's room. The door creaked as I slowly pushed it open. Mokuba was sound asleep; the sheet was down at his feet. I tiptoed over to his bed and pulled the sheet up to his shoulders. I jumped when he stirred and opened his eyes.

"Callie?"

"Oh, bugger. I'm sorry I didn't come in sooner Mokuba," I said quietly with a small smile.

"It's okay Callie. Would you be able to sing me a song to get me back to sleep? You're voice is nice," Mokuba managed to say through a yawn.

"Of course Mokuba..."

I cleared my through before I started singing _What Am I to Do_ by Bella Perez. Mokuba had a small smile on his face while he made himself comfortable. I stroked his hair and he closed his eyes. He was well and truly asleep by the time I finished singing. I leant down and kissed Mokuba's forehead and stood up.

"You know Callie, you should have done demos. You could be making lots of money."

I turned around in fright and saw Seto and the gang standing in the doorway. Joey was standing in front. I sighed and walked towards them.

"I don't want to have to deal with all that stress, Joey. That's why I didn't do it. Seto, I need to talk to you."

They all moved out of the way so I could exit the room. The gang headed down stairs wile Seto and I stood outside Mokuba's room. I gave Seto a sad look. He returned my gaze with a concerned one.

"I'm really disappointed in you, Seto," I muttered, shaking my head.

"What?" Seto asked, the worry was evident in his voice.

"Do you not tell your brother that you love him?" I asked accusingly. "He's really upset about it. You always say it to me, or is that because you're just toying-,"

"No, Callie, I do love you and Mokuba very much!" Seto cut in. "I guess I just thought that he was getting too old for me to say it to him. I didn't know it hurt him that I don't. But he should know that I love him; he's my brother."

"Yeah, well, maybe you should say it to him once in a while. He started crying earlier when I told him I love him. I'd tell you to go in there now and tell him, but I won't; he's sleeping."

Seto nodded and kissed my forehead. "You care about him a lot, don't you?"

I nodded and nudged my head towards the stairs. "Are you coming? Or do you have work to do?"

"It can wait," Seto smiled as he took my hand.

We walked down the stairs to see the gang sitting in the same circle we had been sitting in for our Truth or Dare game. They had not noticed Seto and I appear in the lounge room; they were talking amongst themselves quietly. I headed for the light switch. Looking back at Seto, I winked before turning the light off. The first thing I heard was Téa squeak in fear. I turned the torch on and pointed it at the gang. Téa screamed. I could not hold my laughter in. I doubled over as Téa hurled abuse at me. Seto was sniggering a bit too.

After I had calmed down, I went and joined the gang in the circle. Seto walked over and sat next to me. I stood the torch in the middle of the circle so the light would be evenly distributed around us.

"You're telling ghost stories with us, Kaiba?" Yugi asked.

"Yes. I feel the need to scare you geeks with a freaky story or two," Seto said snidely. "I think I'll go first. This story is called 'Out by the Water's Edge'..."

_"This couple were sitting in a park near a lake thing after they left their prom. They sat on the swings talking WAY late into the night. It started raining a cool mist that was very pleasant. But after an hour or so it was enough rain to make the ground under them muddy - so they were careful not to stick their feet in the mud. This is an important bit of info just so you know._

_It became quite and they were both very tired by then. They suddenly looked up at the same moment... the hair stood up on the back of their necks...as they both felt the need to look back and over their left shoulders. Something had caught the corner of their eyes. About two hundred feet or so away there was SOMETHING crawling on its stomach out past the shadows edge of the light that the giant stadium bulb gave off. _

_They both stared in horror not saying anything. They watched as the thing MOVED towards them, just keeping on the boarder of the light shadow. It was humanoid looking - a dark colour with no clothes on. It was laying flat on its belly... its arms down, held close to its waist. _

_But what frightened them the most, besides the fact that it had been coming up behind them, was the way it moved and the structure of its legs... It was inching forward moving NOTHING but its feet to push it forward. And the legs... If you look at normal human knees - the knees bend forward... This thing's were reverse - the joint bent BACK and away-"_

"I don't get it," said Joey, scratching the back of his head.

"Okay Joey, just imagine that you're lying flat on your stomach, right? Then you have your arms pulled in at your sides and your knees are up off the ground instead of against it," I explained.

"So basically it's like from your waist down, you're twisted the other way," clarified Téa.

"Pretty much, yeah. Except your feet are the same, it's just the knees. Anywho, on with the story Seto."

"Okay...as I was saying..."

_"They stared for several seconds... they both had stopped breathing and the only sound was the rain falling. The head of the thing looked up and they saw nothing but black pools where the eyes should be..._

_They both JUMPED off the swings onto the wet grass and lunged into the car about 50 feet away. There was several seconds of panic when the boy couldn't get the car to start - and he was terrified to look up. He didn't want to see "IT" closing on them - he didn't want to see those knees bending in the wrong direction and the black, soulless eyes. The boy was afraid he would pop the clutch in the car and not be able to start it again. He kept his head down and looking at the steering wheel. The car engine turned and caught - they tore off into the night. _

_The boy called his folks from his girlfriend's house and told them about what had happened. They allowed him to stay there with her and her Mom until the sun came up in a few hours. They waited and passed the time by telling her Mother their story - which scared her (as well as the boy's parents) badly. _

_When the sun came up early that Sunday morning - the boyfriend and girlfriend drove back to see if "it" was still there. That time taking weapons. But there was nothing as they searched the field. As they poked around the swings they had been sitting on earlier... there were large bare foot prints that had tracked through the mud ALL AROUND the very swings they were on. They both had had their shoes ON and as I said before, they were careful NOT to get mud on them. And they HAD NOT walked around and around like these tracks had. They found nothing but those bare tracks. _

_Every once in a while the boy gets brave enough to go back to that field late at night, never alone though. He sits by the school field side in his truck with the high beams on searching the area, but he's never seen "IT" again..."_

When Seto finished, I looked around the circle. Téa was white.

"Aw, did that story scare you, Gardner?" I asked with a wide smirk.

"It scared you too, Andersen!" Téa shot back.

"Yeah, but I'm not showing it, like you. And you'll probably have nightmares tonight. Maybe you should go home if you don't have the guts to listen to these stories, or you could sleep with Yugi in his sleeping bag."

Téa looked angry. She lunged at me with a cushion she had grabbed from the lounge. She started bashing me in the head with it.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Téa! Stop!" I yelled while trying to stop her from killing me. I could hear the boys laughing at the two of us. "Oi! Stop laughing and help me!"

A few seconds later, Téa was pulled off me by Seto and Yugi.

"Thank you," I sighed, sitting up. "Great story Seto. Anyone else got one?"

Everyone was quiet for a minute before Joey said, "I have one. It's about a baby sitter."

"I don't like babysitter stories," I said, rubbing my arms.

"Oh, don't be such a cry baby!" Téa taunted.

"You're the one to talk!" I shot back angrily.

"Would both of you zip it? Get on with it Wheeler!" Seto said irritably.

"Hold ya horses, Kaiba! Anyway..."

_"A teenage baby-sitter put the kids she was watching to sleep in their beds and went back downstairs. _

_The late night news was on the TV - the reporter said a psychopath from a local mental institution was on the loose and that police thought he might be in the area. He cautioned residents to lock their doors and windows because this guy was very, very dangerous. _

_Well, the teenager checked the locks on the windows and the doors, but she forgot the door on the cellar bulkhead. Needless to say, the psychopath broke in about an hour later, coming up from the cellar, armed with an axe. The children heard some noises downstairs, but thought it was the baby-sitter moving some furniture around. Then it got real quiet. _

_All they heard for the remainder of the night was this noise: "Thump! Thump! Dra-aag... Thump! Thump! Dra-aag..."_

_Obviously, they were too afraid to get up to see what it was. In the morning, their parents came home and were horrified to find the babysitter at the top of the stairs, dead with both arms hacked off at the elbows. She'd been climbing the stairs on the bloody stumps of her arms, pulling her badly injured body along. Was she trying to check on the children? Was she trying to get help? Or in the madness of her tortured soul, was she planning to kill the children herself? No one knows for sure."_

I had to laugh when Joey finished. Téa had become even paler. Téa grabbed the cushion from before and hurled it at me. It hit me in the face. It was time for the rest of the circle to laugh, even Seto.

"Are you okay?" Seto asked as I threw the pillow back on the lounge.

"Yep," I grunted while Téa was still giggling. "Do you have one, Yugi?"

"What? A cushion?" Yugi grinned. I gave him a 'are you serious' look. "Yeah, I have one..."

_"They say there is this problem going around. No one knows what it's called and no one knows the cure. But it always occurs with a certain someone. That certain someone is a young girl, sometimes boy, but mostly girl. _

_And as all young girls do, it takes place at a sleep over or get together. The story I've heard about is a girl named Macy, who has her friends Lexie, Bridget and Meagan over to spend the night. She gathers them into her room to tell ghost stories. But she demands they keep the light on at all times. She has this problem and knows about it from recent happenings. But yet, they finally talk her into turning the lights off. She shudders to think what is coming, but agrees. _

_See this problem is a strange one. Whenever the lights are off she will get uncontrollably scared, I mean screaming, crying kind of scared. But when she goes to turn the lights on the other people in the room will be standing there with empty black holes, staring at her. Or mutilated bodies, still freshly cut open and bleeding. Or think of your worst nightmare and have it in the room with you. Could you imagine? Turning on the lights and seeing that? _

_Well back to the story. As Lexie was telling her story, she suddenly turned her flashlight out so that the room was now in total darkness. Macy started whimpering for she knew what was coming. Then she heard a little girl's voice and she knew it couldn't be one of her friends… 'ring around the rosies... pocket full of posies... a tissue a tissue... we all... fall... down...' And Macy got so scared she just had to turn the light on. She jumped up and fumbled for the light switch. But as her hand found it, she didn't want to turn on the light. Then all of a sudden lightning flashed from the storm outside and in the split second of light she could see her three friends with empty black sockets, standing there with smiles on their faces and then the room launched into total darkness again. And as Macy screamed and screamed, she could faintly hear 'ring around the rosies..."_

"If anyone turns off that torch, I'll kill them!" Joey threatened, who was latched onto Tristan. Tristan was latched onto Joey. They had looks of horror.

"Scared of a little ghost story, Wheeler?" Seto taunted.

"Not everyone has nerves of steel like you, Rich Boy!" Joey retorted.

I grabbed the torch from the middle of the circle and smirked evilly. I switched it off. I was expecting screams straight away, but it was dead silent. I needed to go to the next stop.

"Ring around the rosies... pocket full of posies..."

Screams filled the room. I sat there and howled with laughter while Joey, Tristan, Téa and Yugi screamed their lungs out. I turned the torch back on and focused it on the gang who were all white. It made me laugh even more. Seto was actually laughing with me.

After a minute or so, I had finally gotten my laughter under control. But I could not look anyone in the eye; I would have made some sort of strange noise or bursting into a fit of laughter again.

"What's going on down here?"

"AAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!"

I jumped into Seto's lap and shone the light towards the stairs. Mokuba was standing there half asleep. I sighed in relief but did not get out of Seto's arms. I lowered the torch a bit so it was not blinding Mokuba.

"Thank God it's only you. Why are you out of bed?" I asked.

"Well, I was woken up by screaming about five minutes ago," Mokuba explained.

"Oh, sorry. That was these four." I indicated to the gang.

"Hey! You were the one who scared us!" Tristan argued.

"Oh, whatever! Anyway, I'll put you back to bed," I offered, getting off Seto. "And you're coming," I added to Seto, trying to pull him up. He did not budge. "Nyeh! Seto, get off your bum and hurry up!"

Seto got up quickly which caused me to nearly fall on my bum. I tossed the torch to Tristan and Seto, Mokuba and I headed up the stairs. Mokuba walked into his room. I pushed Seto in after him. I hoped Seto would tell Mokuba that he loved him. I stood outside and listened.

"Good night big brother," Mokuba yawned.

"Good night Mokuba. Hey, just so you know, I do love you," Seto said.

I smiled. Seto had so much love in his voice. I only hoped he would keep telling Mokuba that he loved him.

"I love you too, Seto."

I peeked in the doorway and saw the two brothers in a tight embrace. It nearly made me tear up. I let the two of them have a moment and headed down the hallway and down the stairs. About half way down, I misjudged a step and went tumbling down the rest of stairs. I groaned as I hit the floor with a thud. Someone shone the torch on me. I heard the gang begin laughing.

"That wasn't fun..." I groaned as I slowly stood up.

"Are you okay?" Tristan asked through his laughter.

"Oh yes. Just peachy," I answered sarcastically.

"Callie?" I head Seto's voice call from up the stairs. He reached the bottom and stood beside me. "What happen? Sounded like someone fell down the stairs."

"That was me..." I confessed, looking down. "I missed a step."

"You okay?"

"I should be."

"Mokuba wants to see you," Seto said, kissing me on my forehead.

I nodded and carefully began walking back up the stairs. I reached Mokuba's room and turned on the light. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust but when they did, I saw Mokuba sitting up in bed. I walked over and sat on the edge of his bed.

"What's up?"

"I just wanted to say thank you, Callie," Mokuba said quietly.

"For what?"

"For everything. Ever since you came into our lives, Seto actually acknowledges me being here. He's a lot happier too. He smiles. Apart from when you two are fighting... And just now, you got him tell me he loves me..." he trailed off as he sniffed.

I had to stop myself from crying. I knew Mokuba did not get to talk about his feelings a lot, and it made me happy to know he would confide in me.

"Oh, now I'm gonna cry again," I said quietly. I pulled Mokuba into a tight hug. "Never forget, I'm right here when you need me, okay?" Mokuba nodded. I got up and straightened his sheet. "I'll see you in the morning."

I kissed his forehead and quickly headed back out the door and down the stairs. I was hoping Joey and Seto had not killed each other. I was quiet happy when I saw the gang and Seto sitting peacefully. I went back to my place between Seto and Joey.

"You ready to keep going?" Tristan asked. "Cause I have one. But I'm warning you two," he added to Téa and me, "This is scary."

"Don't worry, I can take it... I'm just not sure about chicken over there," I said, pointing to Téa, who gave me a death glare.

"I'm fine! Just get on with it, Tristan!" she said angrily.

"Okay..."

_"One night a young couple were driving home from a party. They didn't feel like heading straight home so the boyfriend said, "Let's go for a drive and we can spend some time alone together." His girlfriend agreed so they set off down a lonely country road and was soon far away from any houses and got deeper into remote bush-land._

_Suddenly the car hit a log fallen across the middle of the road. The couple were startled when the car jolted to a stop; they hadn't seen the log in time. The boyfriend said "I'd better take a look to see if there's any damage." The girlfriend shivered with apprehension as it was so dark outside. "Be careful" she exclaimed._

_After a while, the boyfriend came around to the window. "The log we hit has damaged the car badly and we won't be able to drive it. I'll need some help to fix it. I thought I saw a light on a few miles back so I will go and see if I can get help." His girlfriend said "No it's too dangerous." He replied "Don't worry I'll be fine, anyway we have no choice"._

_The girl said, "I'm coming with you". "No you stay here and lock all the doors and no matter what, promise me you won't get out of the car". The girl felt very fearful but agreed to do as he said. More than an hour passed and the boyfriend had not returned. The girl started to worry and she thought about getting out to look for her boyfriend._

_Then she remembered the promise she made to him and decided to wait a bit longer. She put on the radio to try and take her mind off the rising fear she felt. The only station she could pick up was a boring local country station. She listened to a few songs and then a news broadcast came on._

_There was a story about an escapee from a local lunatic asylum. People were warned to lock all their doors as this deranged escapee was considered extremely dangerous. The girl became even more fearful but decided to stay put and wait for her boyfriend._

_She must have dozed off for she was awoken by a loud "tap, tap, tap" on the roof of the car. Startled she looked out the windows to see if it was her boyfriend returned, but she could see nothing but darkness. The sound came again tap… tap... tap, and she wondered what could be causing it? Too fearful from the events which had passed that evening she could not bring herself to get out to see what it was. The noise continued tap... tap... tap, this went on for some time._

_Suddenly she was blinded by harsh light and could see headlights shining through the front windscreen. She hesitated wondering if it was safe to get out when she heard a voice over a megaphone "You in the car, I want you to listen very carefully. I want you to slowly get out of the car and come toward me. I am a police officer and it is very important that you do exactly what I say. You are in danger. You must get out of the car immediately and slowly walk over here but whatever you do don't turn around and don't look back!"_

_She heard the noise again, tap... tap... tap. Shaking with terror she slowly opened the car door. She climbed out of the car, the policeman said "that's it, now walk towards me without any sudden movement and remember whatever you do don't look back!" _

_She quickened her pace as she got closer to the police car and as she almost reached the officer she couldn't help herself and turned around._

_There on the roof of the car was a bent over figure of a man holding a stick, on the end of the stick she saw to her great horror her boyfriends severed head, the figure was banging it on the roof tap... tap... tap."_

"I'm afraid to go anywhere during the night now… especially with Seto," you said, snuggling up to Seto.

"I'll agree with you on that one," Seto stated wrapping his arms around you protectively.

Out the corner of my eye, I saw Tristan roll his eyes. I stuck my tongue out at him before turning my attention to Téa. "Do you have one?"

Téa nodded, "My mum told me this one and the way she told it..."

_"A little girl she knew had been given a small doll by her parents. The doll was a gift from an ancient great aunt who had now passed away. Lucy was secretly unnerved by the doll which had nasty little black eyes that seemed to follow her around the room and a cross expression on its face. Nevertheless, Lucy had to accept the doll, as she was well brought up and didn't want to upset her parents by informing them of how uneasy she felt around the doll. Her parents told her the doll was called Arabella. The name seemed to suit her but Lucy was even more afraid now the doll had a name. It seemed to make it more human, and if it was even a little human then what might it be capable of? _

_Even so, Lucy never really believed on a conscious level that the doll could do anything to her. It was just a doll, after all, and only reached up to just above her knee. So, to put her mind at rest she stuffed Arabella into the little cupboard under the stairs, behind a pile of shoes where her parents wouldn't see her. It was not until a few nights later, when Lucy was lying in bed that she heard a noise, a shuffling sound, which went on for about five minutes. _

_Then, a brief dragging noise and finally, a scuttling like light footsteps walking very fast. By now Lucy was pinned to the bed with fear, unable to move with fear. Then, she heard a voice-like a very deep, almost masculine tone- but quiet enough not to wake her parents. Lucy always slept with the door open and the landing light on, as she was a little scared of the dark. Therefore she could hear more through her open door. _

_She heard the voice say "Lucy, I'm on the first step…" And then loud scrabbling again as whatever was speaking apparently turned tail and returned to its place of hiding. _

_Lucy was so scared that she didn't sleep a wink that night but laid in fear until the break of dawn, when her mother got her up for school _

_Lucy tried to explain to her mother what had happened the night before, but was so tired that, when her mother passed it off as "just a dream" she began to believe it might be the case. _

_Of course it wasn't. Lucy begged her parents that they might get rid of the doll, but they insisted that it had been the great aunts wish that Lucy would have her doll. So Lucy reluctantly went back to bed, repeating to herself in her head that it had only been a dream. She checked the cupboard under the stairs, but Arabella was exactly where Lucy had left her. _

_That night, Lucy fought sleep but she eventually drifted off. Presently, the deep disembodied voice woke Lucy again. She wondered if she could only hear it in her head. _

_"Luuuuucccccccyyyyy...I'm on the fifth step.." it said. Then came to scuffling noise and the voice didn't reoccur that night. Lucy was crying by now, and again she didn't sleep that night. At school, Lucy told her friends about the doll, and of course they laughed at her. Lucy could only think that if Arabella was climbing four steps at a time then there was only one more night to go. _

_That night Lucy decided to shut her bedroom door. When her mother turned her light out she asked why Lucy was no longer scared of the dark. Lucy replied that she was and could she leave her light on instead of the hall light? But her mother pointed out that her bedroom light was so bright it would keep her awake, and said no. _

_Therefore Lucy agreed to just sleep without a light. She opened the bedroom curtains instead to light the room a little anyway. _

_Just as she began to doze, she heard the noise. And then the voice "Luuucyy. I'm on the top step..." Lucy knew her door was closed but was still terribly afraid. Her heart pounding, she knew if she stayed in bed she wouldn't be safe. So she got up to investigate. _

_And her parents found her body at the bottom of the stairs. They guessed she had tried to go to the lavatory in the night without switching on the light, had slipped on a roller skate found beside her, and broken her neck. Arabella had been found beside her body, and was buried with Lucy. Everyone said what a tragedy it was. But at least Arabella was safely buried, and would never be able to strike again. _

_Was the roller skate from the cupboard under the stairs? That's where it was kept."_

"I'm never keeping a doll again..." I whispered. "But now, it's time for my story..." I whispered something in Seto's ear before continuing.

_"In the small town of Kentucky there was this old war veteran. His legs were blown off in the war, and so the only way he could move around was by dragging himself around by his long, long, long nails. He was also a psycho. He would come around the town and disembowel people with his long nails. So, because of this, the people were ordered to go inside at exactly 6:00 pm and lock their doors. _

_Well, one night a little girl asked her mom if she could go play at her friend's house. The mother looked at the clock, it was 4:00. She told the little girl to be home by 5:45 because that when "Click-Click" came out. The little girl agreed and was on her way. She played and played and I guess she lost track of time because when she headed home, it was already 5:48. She thought, no hurry, I'll make it home on time. But that was when she saw the ice cream man. She bought one and by the time she really started to go home was 6:00. She observed people locking their doors and calling in their kids._

_"Shoot, I'd better run," she thought. Finally she reached her street. But that when she heard the noise, click, click drag. Click, click drag. It got louder and louder. She turned around to make sure he wasn't there but he was. _

_Meanwhile, her mother was inside getting ready for bed, she figured her daughter was already asleep so she decided not to wake her. Then she heard knocking and pounding on the door, she figured it was Click Click and paid no attention. It was really her daughter though, wanting to come inside. The next morning, the mother opened the door to get her newspaper only to find her daughter's body and in blood written on the tree was, "Mum why didn't you open the door?"_

I tapped Seto's thigh and he silently got up. I kept an eye on the gang, who were cowering next to one another with their heads in each other's shoulders. A minute later, I heard a feint 'click, click drag'.

Téa squealed as she held onto Yugi. Yugi held her back with his eyes shut tight and Joey and Tristan jumped up and dove behind the lounge. I struggled to keep in my laughter as 'Click Click' got closer. I crawled behind the lounge to where Tristan and Joey were. I held my breath as I dragged a nail down Joey's leg.

He screamed, which made the other three scream. Joey jumped up, leapt over me and ran for the light. He turned it on. The gang stopped screaming and looked around wildly. Tristan stared at me in disbelief.

"You bloody bitch!" Joey yelled from the other side of the lounge room. "You touched my leg!"

"Guilty..." I admitted, shrugging. "I swear you lot could wake up Domino with your screams."

I looked towards Seto, who was leaning against the wall and smiled. He smiled back

"I think it's time we went to bed," Téa piped up as she looked around, probably making sure there was nothing of any danger around her.

"I agree. Are you sure ya'll gonna be alright? I mean, what if a madman or even Click Click comes?" I mocked.

The response I got was a hand up the back of my head. "Ow."

"You joke around about that again, and I'll murder you in your sleep," Joey threatened, hitting me again.

"Okay! I won't. Just don't hit me again," I said as I rubbed the back of my head. I turned my attention back to Seto. "Are you sleeping down here, or in your bed?"

"I'll sleep in my room. I'll see you in the morning," he replied as he walked over to me. He helped me up and gave me a brief kiss. "I'll see you geeks later," he added, putting on his cold face.

"Bubye Kaiba!" Joey said mockingly.

Seto headed up stairs while the gang grabbed their stuff and started setting up. I helped them get their sleeping bags in order while one by one they went and got changed into their pyjamas.

I stood back and looked at the four sleeping bags across the floor. We were one short; I did not have one. I quickly headed up stairs and went in search for a linen cupboard. I found one and to my surprise I found a sleeping bag. I was just going to grab a sheet or two and sleep in them. But I liked the idea of a sleeping bag better. I grabbed it and quickly headed back downstairs. I set up my sleeping bag next to Joey, who, along with Téa, Tristan and Yugi, were in their sleeping bags.

"Really? You're gonna make me try and find my way in the dark?" I said in disbelief.

Joey sat up and held up the torch. "Besides, you're the host."

I rolled my eyes before heading over to the light switch. I waited for Joey to turn on the torch and flicked off the light. I leapt over to my sleeping bag and quickly made myself comfortable. Joey turned off the torch before placing it in between him and me. My eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness. After a few minutes, I could hear Tristan and Joey snoring loudly. I smiled and closed my eyes, letting sleep take over.


	15. Chapter 15

_I walked down the hallway of the Kaiba mansion in search of something. Passing one door after another, I became irritated. I also felt anxious. There was something up ahead on the floor. I picked up my pace and reached my hand out in front of me._

_I reached the object after what seemed like an eternity. It was a newspaper. Looking at the front page, my anxiety grew. It was the article that was published about Seto and I breaking up. On the top right hand corner, there was a red smudge. I looked up and saw a door in front of me. I reached out and opened the door._

_It was Seto's office. And there, smack dab in the middle surrounded by clothing were two sweaty, naked bodies entwined in the heat of passion. Two pairs of eyes looked up at me. Bright green and pure sapphire blue ones..._

I sat up so quickly, I gave myself a head spin. Sweat was dripping down my face. Running my fingers through my hair, I looked towards Joey and smiled. He had his mouth wide open and was snoring loudly.

Footsteps coming from the stairs made me divert my attention. I spun around and saw a small silhouette slowly step down the stairs and into the lounge room.

"Mokuba?" I asked quietly.

"I had a nightmare," the small shape said, walking over to me.

I looked up and was able to just make out Mokuba's facial features. He was holding his pillow and sheet. It must have been a pretty bad dream. I carefully got out of my sleeping bag and helped Mokuba set up his bed next to my sleeping bag.

"Why are you up anyway?" Mokuba asked me.

"I had a nightmare too," I said as I laid out his sheet.

"What was it about?"

I froze and thought back to my dream and seeing Seto and Torey. I roughly shook my head and grabbed Mokuba's pillow. "It was just about Seto and the rep he's been having meetings with."

"Oh her! She was here the morning after you and Seto had that fight. I came home from Toby's and she was leaving. They must have had a meeting but she didn't have any papers with her. And it was nine in the morning."

Despite the tears that were welling up, I got into my sleeping bag and laid down. Mokuba followed and folded his sheet over him. I kissed his forehead.

"What was your dream about?" I questioned.

"There were monkeys jumping around my room," Mokuba said innocently as he closed his eyes. "But I'm not scared about it anymore; you're near me." He closed his eyes.

It did not take long for Mokuba to fall asleep. I got out of sleeping bag again and headed up the stairs. Torey had been there the day after Seto and I had our fight. I thought back to that night. Seto looked like he was on the phone while I was outside and a car pulled up as the gang and I were leaving. Had he been on the phone to her?

I reached Seto's door and pushed it open. Seto was sprawled out on his bed on top of the covers. I walked over and pushed his shoulder roughly. "Get up. Now."

Seto stirred from his sleep and tried to look at me through half closed eyes. "What? Callie?"

I ignored him and turned away from him and wiped my eyes. "So, you lied to me."

The bed creaked behind me as Seto sat up. I walked away from the bed and began pacing. Seto got out of bed and stopped me mid stride. He looked me in the eye. "What did I lie to you about?"

"Torey," I snarled as I pushed away from Seto and moved away from him. "I can say without a doubt that our relationship is over and that I will not stand in the way of you and her being together."

"What are you talking about?" Seto asked as he tried to grab my arm. "Why would I be with her? I have you?"

"So you didn't have her over the night we had that fight?" I asked, turning to face him. I had stopped crying by that time, but my eyes were aching from trying to hold back tears. "Did you sleep with her, Seto?"

Seto looked so helpless. He stood there just staring at me. After a second, he sighed. I watched as he slowly nodded. He stepped forward and tried to touch my face.

In an instant, my world had come crashing down around me. I had had thoughts about the two like that, and the dream did not really help, but the fact that it was reality... I did not know what to do. Seto had lied to me. The news paper was right. I had the urge to ask whether he had seen Torey while I was in Australia, but I did not think my heart could handle his answer.

"It's over, Seto. You lied to me. You said we never broke up, so you cheated on me."

I knew I was over-reacting. But I did not care. It hurt. I turned to head out the door but stopped when I saw Mokuba standing there with tears in his eyes.

"You cheated on Callie?" Mokuba sobbed.

"Mokuba..." Seto trailed off as he stepped forward.

Mokuba shook his head before turning tail and running down the hallway. Seto and I ran after him. Mokuba sped up as he descended the stairs. I overtook Seto and tried to catch up with Mokuba. I called out to him but he ignored me and ran for the front door. I sped past the gang, who were sitting up and looking around in confusion.

"Bag your crap!" I shouted to them as I ran out the door.

Mokuba had disappeared, but I could not stop running. Kids always go to the park to enjoy themselves. Maybe he had gone there. He had looked so upset.

I reached the nearest park and found Mokuba sitting on a swing. There were a few lights around so I could see him clearly. I could hear his sobs. I slowly approached him; I did not want him to take off again. A snap filled the air as I stepped on a stick. Mokuba's head shot up. I smiled softly.

"Oh, it's you. I thought you were Seto," Mokuba muttered, looking down again.

Taking in Mokuba's appearance, I saw a hole in the knee of his pants. There was blood all over his knee. I knelt down in front of him and took hold of his hands. "Did you trip over?"

"Yeah... I can't believe he cheated on you Callie!" he cried, throwing himself into my arms.

I held him tightly while he sobbed into my shoulder. I sat down in the wood chips and placed Mokuba in my lap. I smoothed out his hair.

"I don't want you to leave," he whispered.

"I'll always be around for you, Mokuba. I'm not going to block you out," I responded.

Mokuba nodded. Slowly, I could hear his breathing even out and I knew he was falling asleep. A car door opened behind me. I looked behind me and saw Seto get out of the limo. He quickly walked over as I struggled to get up without waking up Mokuba. Seto reached me and tried to look me in the eye. I kept looking away.

"Is he okay?" he asked quietly.

"He's hurt his knee," I whispered as I carefully placed Mokuba in Seto's arms. "Take care of him."

"Can we talk, please?"

I finally looked Seto in the eye and showed him how hurt I was. He flinched. I did not answer him. Instead, I walked around him. "I have said all I want to say to you. But I will say this; I love you Seto Kaiba. Maybe I will forgive you in time and I will talk to you again. But for now, goodbye."

Not looking back at Seto, I headed back towards the Kaiba mansion. My heart was pounding. It was aching. I felt sick. Heartbreak sucked. I still could not believe Seto had slept with Torey. I had to admit, he was good at hiding his evidence. Chances were, if I had not noticed Seto on the phone that night, or the head lights, I would not have put it all together. I probably would have believed what Mokuba had; that she was there for a meeting early in the morning. But then I thought, they had a meeting later that day. I had to stop thinking about the whole situation. It was making me feel worse.

As I approached the mansion, I saw the gang standing beside Téa's car. They must have put their stuff in the boot already. Joey looked my way and immediately ran for me.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he got closer.

"I don't know..." I drifted off. Joey stopped in front of me as the gang came up to us. "I think I just broke up with Seto for the last time..." I fell to my knees and just cried. Everything was too much.

I felt Joey lift me up and hold me bridal style. I buried my head in his shoulder and tried to calm my sobs. Joey slowly got into Téa's car but did not let me go.

_It was all black. I looked around wildly in search for any form of light._

_"Hello?" I called._

_"Callie," a familiar voice said from behind me._

_I spun around and saw my adoptive mother. I smiled at the sight of her and ran to hug her. "Mum-"_

_"You are no daughter of mine!" she said cruelly, stopping me dead in my tracks. She folded her arms and glared at me._

_"Mum?" I whispered, taking a step back._

_"You sold the house as soon as I died and you haven't visited me since! I should never have adopted you. I made a mistake that day," she said, more to herself than anything._

_"I'm sorry..." I whispered as tear welled up in my eyes._

_Suddenly my mum faded away and Seto took her place. Beside him were Torey and Mokuba. Seto had his arms around Torey and Mokuba was hugging Seto around the middle._

_"So tell me Seto, why did you leave Callie for me?" Torey asked Seto while eyeing me._

_"She always complained about me always working and never spending any time with her," Seto replied while looking directly at me._

_"Seto..." I whispered as tears fell down my face._

_"She wasn't good for anything," Seto continued._

_"She always hurt Seto when she left," Mokuba said quietly._

_The three of them faded away. I let out a loud sob and fell to my knees. While staring at the stop Seto had been standing, I saw a white mist form and the gang including Duke visualised. _

_"We shouldn't let Callie hang around us anymore. All she ever does is complain about her life and all the bad things that have happened to her," Tristan began._

_"I can't believe I befriended her," Duke continued, sounding disgusted. "I should have left her when she got kidnapped. She deserved everything she got."_

_The gang faded away, leaving me all alone once again. I looked to my knees and whimpered. I was all alone. Maybe I had deserved everything I got._

I opened my eyes and sat up. I was on a bed with Joey sitting next to my legs, his hand on mine. Yugi was sitting on a computer chair, Téa was on a bean bag and Tristan was sprawled out on the floor. Joey pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly.

"Where am I?" I asked, hugging Joey back.

"At Yugi's," Joey responded. "You had me worried."

"I'm sorry..." I whispered. I did not let Joey go. I needed someone to hold me. I did not think Joey intended to release me.

"Why don't we all hit the sack? We'll talk about everything in the morning?"

My senses snapped back into gear as I lay on the floor. Keeping my eyes closed, I listened to what was going on around me. Joey was snoring rather loudly beside me; his arm draped over my stomach. I could also hear Tristan's snores coming from somewhere near my feet. I hoisted myself up on an elbow while I shielded my eyes with my other hand and looked around the room. Téa and Yugi were on the bed and Tristan was sprawled out on the beanbag by my feet. I smiled before lying back down. Joey shifted towards me slightly. His wrist was so slender; I could feel how bony it was when I placed my hand over it. As I gazed at Joey, I thought about how good he and the gang had been to me. They would go out of their way to make me happy. They would help me if I were in need.

And at that moment I needed a lot of things. I had nowhere to live. The more I thought about it, the more I realised how much of a bad idea it was to sell Duke's game shop. I had money to rent a place, but it was trying to find accommodation while I was looking that was worrying me. In addition, I needed a job so I had stable income. Keeping a level head was going to be tough.

I needed a cuddle, so I turned to the person who would always give me a comforting hug. I shifted around and wrapped my arm around Joey's torso. I felt Joey's arm constrict around me tightly. He drew me in close. Even when he was asleep, he always knew how to make me feel better.

"Are you okay, Cal?"

Well, he was not asleep. But I was glad he was awake. I nodded before looking him in the eye.

"Just worried about what's going to happen now," I said quietly.

"Don't worry; we'll help you sort everything out. You don't have to do this on your own," Joey murmured, moving his arm from around my waist. He traced my jaw line with his index finger. I closed my eyes. It sent shivers down my spine.

Groans from near my feet snapped me out of my contentment. I sat up and saw Tristan stretching.

"Remind me to never sleep on the bean bag ever again," he complained.

"Laying flat on the floor isn't any better, Tristan," Joey said, sitting up beside me. "I'm hungry."

"You're always hungry, Joey," I laughed. "How about I cook you all breakfast? It's the least I can do for Yugi; he let me stay here." I looked at Yugi and Téa who were still asleep. I pulled myself to my feet and stretched. "I'll come get you all when I'm finished."

"I wanna help!" Joey said excitedly as he jumped up.

I sighed in mock annoyance before walking out the door. Joey followed me closely. Maybe it was a good thing Joey was going to help me. He might have known where everything was in Yugi's kitchen. I jumped slightly as I was walking when I felt Joey's fingers lightly graze the back of my forearm. I did not think much of it.

I managed to find the kitchen without Joey's help. I opened the door and was shocked to find a short old man sitting at the dining table. He had spiky grey hair and purple eyes, much like Yugi's. The morning paper was sprawled out in front of him.

"Hey, Gramps," Joey said happily from behind me.

"Hello, Joey," the man said. "Who's this lovely girl?" He indicated to me. "I'm Solomon, but everyone calls me Gramps. I'm Yugi's grandpa."

"Oh, I'm Callie," I introduced, walking over and shaking the man's hand.

"Callie?" Gramps questioned. "Aren't you the girl –"

"That Kaiba was dating!" Joey interrupted hurriedly.

I looked down quickly to hide the fact that tears were about to fall down my face. I had not focused my thoughts on Seto that morning until that moment. But that was not the time to cry over him. I had some cooking to do.

"Mr Moto, would you like me to cook you some breakfast?" I asked kindly. "I'm a pretty good cook, if I do say so myself."

"Oh, I don't want to put you to work; you're a guest," Gramps said, waving his hands in front of his face.

"I'm cooking for everyone else; it's not trouble. Besides, Wheeler's helping me," I grinned as I slapped Joey on the shoulder.

Joey looked at me and smiled slightly. I just stared at him, hoping he would get my hint. I did not think it hit him because he just stared back for a second.

"You want me to get everything out, don't you?" he asked.

I nodded. "I'm sure you'd have much more luck with knowing where things are than I would. I need a frying pan and some pancake mix."

Joey made his way around the kitchen, grabbing what I had asked for. It did not take him long. He sat down next to Gramps and started swinging back on his chair. "I don't have to help you cook, do I?" he asked carelessly.

"So much for wanting to help, Wheeler."

I got everything ready and mixed the pancake mix together. Cooking made me incredibly happy. It was just so much fun to me, even if it was only pancakes. I started humming quietly while pouring the mixture into the pan. Joey's voice was slightly louder than my humming though.

"I don't know what happen, but Callie was a total wreck. I didn't know what to do."

"I'm sure she'll tell you everything when she's ready," Gramps said kindly. "Just give her time."

Joey sounded so anxious, and it made me feel bad that I had not told him what happened. But did I really want a repeat of what happened a few days before at KaibaCorp?

I arranged the plates along the bench and placed 3 large pancakes on each. After grabbing the butter from the fridge, I casually opened cupboards in search for the pantry without Joey and Gramps noticing. I found the cupboard and pulled out what I was looking for.

"Joey, do you wanna go get the others, please?" I asked loudly as I put a few drizzles of maple syrup over the pancakes.

One of the chairs moved behind me and Joey's footsteps disappeared out of the kitchen. I quickly put a dollop of butter on top of each pile.

"Would you like some help?"

I jumped in fright and looked beside me. Gramps was looking at the plates in front of me with his mouth open slightly. I snickered before pushing a couple of plates towards him. Balancing a plate on my forearm and one in each hand, I made my way over to the table. Setting them down, I looked towards the kitchen doorway. Joey rushed in and sat down eagerly in the chair next to where I was standing. The others followed. Yugi and Téa sat on the other side of the table, Gramps at one end and Tristan on the other.

Joey looked around the table. "There's only 5 plates. Where's yours Callie?"

I shrugged before walking over to the drawers and grabbing knives and forks for everyone. After I handed them out, I sat down in the vacant seat next to Joey. Everyone just stared at me.

"What? I'm not really hungry," I said quietly. It was not a lie.

The others began eating while Joey kept his eyes on me. He had a stern look. He picked up his fork and cut a bit of his pancakes without looking. Jabbing his fork through them, he lifted it up to his mouth. The moment he started chewing, Joey's eyes lit up and left my gaze as he eagerly dug into the food on his plate. I smiled as I looked around the table. Everyone had pretty much finished.

"Was it that good?" I asked.

"They were great, Callie," Téa complimented. "You really should have made some for yourself."

"Have some of mine," Joey said, holding up his fork. There was a little bit of pancake on the end of it.

I shook my head and Joey gave me a sad look. The bit of pancake did look good. Chairs scraped around the table as I slowly opened my mouth. Joey moved the fork closer to my mouth; his eyes never left mine. I slipped the pancake off the fork with my teeth. Joey grinned as I began chewing. They really were good pancakes, but I knew if I ate more, I would be sick.

Joey finished the rest of his breakfast in two bites. "They were really good!"

I grabbed Joey's plate and went over to the ink where Téa was washing up.

"Do you want me to do that?" I asked, placing the plate on the bench.

"Oh, no. You cooked. Thank you by the way," Téa said, happily.

I looked around the kitchen and noticed that it was deserted, even Joey was gone. I frowned, but shook my head. Maybe they were have a guy chat or something.

"What do you want to do today, Callie?" Téa asked, still washing up.

I leant against the bench and shrugged. I really did not know what I wanted to do. I just did not want to be alone. Joey would not leave my side, even if I asked him. That much I knew. I caught sight of a news paper on the island in the middle of the kitchen. I stepped over to it and unfolded it, half expecting the front cover to have something to do with me and Seto splashed over it.

I was relieved when I saw the article about a new Karaoke Bar that was opening up the next night. Not paying much attention to the article, I skimmed through the pages until I found what I was looking for. I knew what the gang and I were going to do for a few hours of the day.

"Well, what movie do you want to see?" Tristan asked after I had shown him and the others the paper.

After I had decided to go to the movies, I went on an adventure through Yugi's house in search of the boys. I found them in the lounge room talking amongst themselves.

"I dunno," I sighed, running my hand through my hair. "Could go see the new Muppets movie that came out the other day?"

"You sure you don't wanna see something scary?" Tristan taunted while wiggling his fingers in front of his face.

"Do you want to?" I shot back. "I mean, you did get pretty scared last night."

Tristan opened his mouth but shut it shortly after. I looked around to see if the expressions of the other's faces showed they were interested.

"I think we should go see it," Yugi piped up. "We haven't really done anything as a group with Callie. Plus I'm sure we'll all enjoy the movie."

The others agreed and we decided to go to the 2pm screening. We had woken up late that morning so we had less than two hours to get everyone in the shower and down at the cinema. Yugi let us use his shower and provided towels for us.

I was the last one to get in and my shower was incredibly quick. I had changed into a black t-shirt with a skull and crossbones design and denim jeans with a heart buckle. I placed two black arm sleeves on the vanity, pulled my hair up and took in the reflection staring back at me in the mirror.

Red, puffy eyes, hitched breathing. The shower was the only place I could cry without anyone noticing. I could not get my head around the fact that Seto had been seeing Torey and that he had lied to me about it. I should have expected it. He was Seto Kaiba, the cold, heartless CEO of the biggest gaming technology company in the world. As if he would be monogamous. How could I have been so stupid?

I looked down at the basin and saw a razor sitting near the tap. The blades gleamed in the light. I picked it up and looked at it, before quickly placing it back on the vanity. I would not resort to self harm, no matter how much I was hurting. But it would get rid of the pain in my heart for a bit. The dream I had the night before kept playing over in my head. I felt numb all over. The only thing I could feel was the agony my heart was in. I needed a way to get rid of the two feelings that were clashing in my body. No one had to know...

The razor had an interchangeable head, so I raided the medicine cabinet. A box of razor heads was sitting in the bottom corner. I grabbed on and hastily ripped the head out of its plastic packaging. The tiny blade put up a good fight, but it finally came loose. I had every intention of buying a new packet of razor heads to replace the one I had just broken. My hand trembled as I held the blade at eye level. My head was telling me not to be so dramatic, but my heart just wanted to pain to go away. I breathed deeply and closed my eyes.

Three deep cuts stood out against my pale skin. Not wanting to bleed out completely, I had cut just above my wrist, away from major veins. I held my arm up. Thick lines of bright red liquid dribbled down to the crease at my elbow joint. I grabbed some toilet paper and cleaned myself up. The toilet paper soaked up the blood quickly as I dabbed the cuts. I had accomplished what I had set out to do. I felt real. My body was no longer numb, well, my arm was not anyway. My heart did not hurt as much; in fact, the fast pounding of the four chambers seems to soothe me. I concealed my arms in my black arm sleeves.

With the razor blade stashed away in my pocket and the razor head remnants wrapped up in the bloody toilet paper in the other, I headed out of the bathroom and made my way towards Yugi's room. The material from my arm sleeve was irritating the marks on my arm. I began to regret doing something so impulsive and stupid.

Hushed voices travelled out of Yugi's slightly opened bedroom door. They sounded irritated. I stopped near the door and listened closely.

"I saw you this morning. I don't care what you call it but that was not comforting!" Tristan said angrily.

"I know you're worried, Joey," Téa said sternly. "We all are. We have no idea what Callie's going to be like; we don't even know what happened."

"I think we should do it..." Yugi trailed off.

I did not really care about what they were talking about from that point on. I just wanted them to stop talking about me. I knocked on the door before opening it slowly. "Are you guys ready to go?"

The cinema was only half full when we arrived. We had fifteen minutes before the movie started. Joey loaded his arms with food and drink while the other just bought a small popcorn and a drink each. I grabbed a coke. If I had gotten any food, I would not have eaten it all. We made our way to get to the back of the cinema. I plopped down next to Joey and snuggled into my seat.

"Hey guys?" I said over the drone of the other people chatting and entering the cinema. The gang looked at me. "Thanks for coming."

Beside me, Téa made an 'awe' sound before pulling me into a tight hug. I hugged back just as tight.

"You know we're always here to hang around with," Yugi said from beside Téa with a comforting smile. I smiled at him before moving away from Téa.

"Yeah Callie, you're part of the gang now," Tristan said from his spot beside Joey.

"And that means you can talk to us about anything," Joey said quietly.

I looked at him and nodded as the lights around the room dimmed. I made myself comfortable once again and rested my arms on the arm rests. The movie was sure to help me feel better, not that the gang's words did not help. But they really did not need me moping around feeling sorry for myself.

During the movie, I dragged my arms along the rest, which irritated the cuts on my arm. I did not think much of it, it was just uncomfortable. A few times I had reached over and tried to steal a few bits of popcorn from Joey. In mock anger he grabbed my arm, my cut arm. I jumped slightly due to pain. Joey quickly released his grip.

"Are you okay?" he asked quietly so he would not disturb the other patrons.

I just nodded. Joey did not touch or even glance at me for the rest of the movie. He should not have felt bad for grabbing me. I guess he thought he had hurt me. It broke my heart to let him think that, but I could not tell him what I had done. He would look down at me.

When the movie finished, I downed the rest of my coke before standing up and stretching. It was an alright movie. At least it had given us something to do for a few hours. Maybe the gang would not hate me for choosing a movie that was not as great as we had first assumed.

"What did you guys think?" I asked, turning to look at the gang who were still sitting down.

"Wasn't too bad," Tristan commented. "It was good, but it wasn't that good."

"What are you talking about, Tristan?" Téa interjected. "You were laughing half the time."

We all laughed except Joey, who got up quietly and grabbed is rubbish. The others followed suit before we headed down the stairs and out to the lobby. I threw my drink cup in the bin and turned to the gang. Yugi and Téa were looking at the movie posters and Joey and Tristan were talking quietly. Joey was flexing and clenching his hand quite a bit. I quickly walked over to them and slung my arms over their shoulders.

"Hey guys!" I said happily.

"Hey Cal," Tristan smiled.

I looked at Joey and saw that he had a far off look on his face.

"C'mon, Joey, smile. Please?"

Joey snapped back into his senses and looked at me. His eyes were full of sadness. He shook his head roughly before giving me a smile. I knew he was forcing it, but did not press the matter.

"Sorry Cal. Are you ready to go?"

I nodded before once again turning my attention back to Yugi and Téa. They were walking out the doors. I indicated to the boys to follow and quickly headed out after Yugi and Téa.


	16. Chapter 16

The sky was dappled with dark grey clouds, but the sun managed to break through and warm the somewhat chilly November afternoon. It made our dull walk back to Yugi's place somewhat more cheerful. I was walking ahead of the others; I knew they were talking about something I was not a part of. It did not really bother me. I was too busy admiring my surroundings. The streets of Domino were beautiful. I was 17 and living thousands of kilometres away from home without any family. So much to take in, I had never really thought about it, things had been so hectic from the moment I had arrived.

"Hey guys, look at this!" Tristan said from behind me, bringing me back to my senses.

I turned on my heel and headed back to where the others gathered around a lamppost. I peeked over Téa's shoulder to see what they were looking at. There was a poster for a carnival opening that night. It was full of rides and a sideshow. Push aside the fact that I was a total ride junkie it did look fun.

"Looks like fun," Tristan said.

"It will give us something to do for the night," Yugi said thoughtfully. "But I have to go home first."

Téa said she would go with Yugi, which earned her a curious look from me. She just rolled her eyes. They agreed to meet us out the front of the carnival gates before heading down the street. I wolf whistled which caused Tristan to laugh. Téa spun around and stuck up her finger at me. I just laughed. Téa had brought it upon herself; we all knew Yugi liked her, and it was obvious she liked Yugi. So her going to Yugi's house with him by themselves just seemed suss.

"So are we heading to the carnival now?" I asked Tristan and Joey.

"No, it's too early," Joey said quietly, shaking his head. "We'll go to mine for a bit."

The walk to Joey's was very quiet. No one uttered a word as we made our way up the street and into the seven-storey complex. I knew there was something wrong with Joey; the look Tristan kept giving him said it all. Tristan was worried. I had to confront Joey. I could not believe he was so upset about grabbing my arm.

Joey opened the apartment door and let Tristan and me in. It was a nice unit, cosy but nice. There were a few pizza boxes lying around the lounge on the floor, a big LCD TV in front of it.

"Oh, you're home."

I directed my attention to a doorway on my right and saw a tall, middle-aged man standing there. He had blonde hair, very similar to Joey's and hazel eyes.

"Hey, Dad," Joey muttered. "This is Callie."

I smiled and greeted Mr Wheeler. He had a gentle smile and the same Brooklyn accent as Joey.

"I'm sure Yugi will let us know when they're ready, so I'm gonna watch TV," Tristan announced lazily as he fell back onto the lounge and grabbed the remote. I could tell he visited Joey quite a bit. He seemed right at home.

That was my opportunity to direct my attention to Joey, who was looking through some mail. A musky smell filled my nostrils as I approached Joey's turned back. He jumped slightly when I tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around and sighed.

"Can we talk, Joey?" I murmured, "In private?"

Joey led me through the doorway to the left and down the relatively small hallway. It was bare apart from the odd photograph here and there. He opened a door at the end of the hallway and walked in. I followed and closed the door behind me. Joey's room was very boyish with several video games surrounding a gaming console on the floor, duel monster posters on the walls of the room and a few pieces of clothing scattered around. His bed looked quite comfortable as well.

"What's wrong, Callie?" Joey asked.

I brought my attention back to Joey and sighed, "What's wrong with you? You've been quiet since... Well, since this morning."

Joey bit his lip before looking away. He stayed silent.

"Before the movie started, you told me I could talk to you and the gang about anything. Well the same applies to you."

Joey took a deep breath before flexing his hand again. He looked like he was debating whether to tell me. Surely, it was not that big of a deal. He held out the hand that he had been clenching before slowly opening his palm out in front of me.

There were a few feint red streaks covering his palm. It looked like Joey had tried to rub it off. I reached out to touch his hand but he quickly pulled it away.

"Show me your arm."

It hit me. Joey had grabbed my arm with that hand during the movie. He was not upset about thinking that he had hurt me; he knew I had done something to my arm. I had not checked my arm since I first put the blade to my skin. I decided to play dumb.

"Why? I wanna know how you got that blood on your hand. Are you hurt?" I asked.

"I'm not hurt, but you are. Show me your arm," Joey responded sternly.

"But my arm's not hurt-"

"Don't lie to me, Caledonia!" Joey snapped. I stared at him in shock. He never used my full name. "Show me your arm."

I did not know what to do. I did not want Joey to see that I had done something so reckless, but I did not want him to get angrier. That really was not a good argument; Joey was going to be angry either way. I bit the bullet.

Without a word, I began to pull off the arm sleeve. It was very painful; the blood from the cuts had dried on the fabric. I felt the dry layer being ripped off as I pulled the material further down my arm. Once my arm was free, I looked at it. The cuts had started bleeding lightly.

Joey frowned at me before gently grabbing my wrist and examining my forearm. He looked back up at me. "Why'd you do it?"

I just shrugged. I could not get the thoughts in my head to run in a straight line. "'Cause I could?"

"Damn it, Callie!" Joey shouted, scaring the pants off me as he threw my arm down. "I'm your friend; I've been there for you for the past two months! Why won't you talk to me?"

I looked at my feet, totally shocked. Joey was full of surprises. It kind of scared me. I walked past Joey and stood by the window.

"Seto lied to me..." I said quietly. "He told me he was never involved with Torey. He spent the night with her the night we had that big fight." I stopped and tried to steady my breath. I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes.

"How do you know he lied to you?" Joey asked from behind me. "Not that I don't believe you, 'cause I do. But I know Kaiba; he would have done his best to hide it from you."

I turned to face Joey. "He did hide it, very well, and I would have been none the wiser if Mokuba hadn't told me. He saw her there that morning."

A warm hand wrapped itself around the top of my arm and I was slowly turned around. My dark eyes met with deep brown ones. Joey pulled me into a tight hug. I returned it.

"I won't let him hurt you again," he whispered in my ear.

A knock at the door made me jump. Joey released me before calling out to the person at the door. I quickly pulled my arm sleeve back on as the door opened.

"What's going on in here? I heard you yell, Joey," Tristan inquired as he stepped over the threshold.

"Nothin', Tristan," Joey responded quietly. "Have you heard from Yuge?"

"Nah, but I don't think it'll be too much longer."

As if on cue, my phone went off in my pocket. I squeezed my fingers into the small opening and pulled my phone out, careful not to slice my finger on the blade that had stashed into the same pocket that morning. I slid it open and read my text aloud. "We're heading to the carnival now. Meet you at the entrance."

"Alright," Joey sighed as I slipped my phone back into my pocket. "We better get going."

Three hours later and I was high on adrenalin. The rides at the carnival were absolutely amazing. I had dragged Téa on the majority of the mild rides because she was terrified of the extreme ones. Those were reserved for Joey to accompany me. Tristan and Yugi joined us on most of the rides.

After getting my final major adrenalin hit on the Mega Drop, Joey and I joined the Téa, Yugi and Tristan just beside the ticket booth. Téa was staring up at the slowly rising seat platform that I had been on a few minutes before hand.

"I can't believe you're too scared to go on it," I said, laughing slightly. "It's not that bad."

"That's just too high!" Téa responded, shaking her head. "What if the mechanism that stops you from hitting the ground at full speed broke?"

"Well, you'd be dead," Tristan commented casually.

I had to laugh. Téa did not find it too funny though. She glared at Tristan who merely sighed.

"Oh, c'mon, Téa, what are the chances of that happening?"

Joey suddenly tapped me on the shoulder. I jumped slightly as Joey turned me to face him. He gazed at me for a few seconds before running his hand down my arm. I had to suppress the shiver that was about to travel down my spine.

"Are you cold? Your arm's covered in goose bumps," Joey said over the noise of the carnival.

I had not noticed before but I was a bit cold and small bumps covered my arms.

"That'll teach me for not wearing a jacket," I laughed while rubbing my arms.

Joey pulled off his jacket. I opened my mouth in protest as he placed it over my shoulders. Joey pressed his finger against my lips.

"I don't want you to be cold."

I gazed at Joey's arms and saw he had a long sleeve undershirt on. I gave him a concerned look before manoeuvring my arms into the jacket sleeves. They were incredibly warm. I wrapped my arms around myself with a smug smile. Joey smiled before pulling me into his arms. I pulled my arms out from between us and returned his embrace. He felt so warm. I felt a sense of security while his arms were around me.

"I have to tell you something, Cal," Joey said quietly, not letting go of me. I made a sound in my throat to let him know I had heard him as I buried my face in his shoulder. "I think-"

"Callie!"

I immediately pushed away from Joey roughly and looked towards the small boy who had called my name. I smiled before waving. "Hey, Mokuba!"

Mokuba walked towards me eagerly. I held out my arms and pulled him into a tight hug.

_Wait,_ I thought suddenly as I let go of Mokuba. _If Mokuba's here, that must mean..._

"Mokuba, is your brother here?" Yugi suddenly asked from beside me. I looked around and saw Téa and Tristan standing near us. Yugi must have been thinking the same thing I was.

"No, he's at KaibaCorp," Mokuba replied.

"You're not here by yourself, are you?" I asked sternly.

Mokuba turned around and pointed to one of the food carts nearby where I saw a familiar figure. The brown haired boy grabbed his food and turned to walk towards our gathering.

"Hey, Callie," Toby said once he reached Mokuba's side.

I greeted him before introducing him to the gang. They all said their hellos.

"What are you two up to now?" I asked while eyeing the Ferris Wheel. I had every intention of dragging the gang onto it.

"Well, once Toby finishes eating, we're gonna try our luck on the Mega Drop," Mokuba said proudly.

"The Mega Drop with a full stomach?" Tristan questioned, looking up at the top of the ride. "Good luck with that."

"What are you lot going to do?" Toby asked before taking a bite of his pluto pup.

"I think we're gonna go on the Ferris Wheel," Joey piped up, scaring me as he put his hand on my lower back. I looked back at him. "I saw you eyeing it."

We said our goodbyes to Mokuba and Toby before making our way through the crowd to the Ferris Wheel. Joey's hand did not leave the small of my back. But the funny thing was, it did not feel weird. It actually felt quite comforting. Those feelings were really confusing me.

"So, me and Callie will go in one and you three will go in another," Joey announced once we had bought our ride tickets.

The line was pretty long, considering there were heavy clouds overhead and there was no overhead cover on the carriages. Maybe they did not mind being rained on. I really did not mind that thought either.

After about five minutes of standing around in a slow moving line talking amongst ourselves, the ride attendant opened up a carriage door in front of Joey and me. I slowly stepped into the cage, careful not to tip it too much. I sat on one side of the cage and Joey sat on the other. I could see the Mega Drop over Joey's shoulder.

"Callie, I have something to ask you," Joey said suddenly as the cage moved away from the platform. It stopped shortly after. "How did you and Mokuba start talking about Kaiba and that girl?"

The cage began moving again as I stared at Joey. I know he just wanted to understand and get the full story, but I did not want to cry in front of him.

"After we all went to bed at Seto's last night, I had a dream... and, well, Seto and Torey were there on the floor of Seto's office fucking-" I broke off and took a deep breath. My throat was becoming tight. Joey reached over and put his hand on my knee. "Anyway, Mokuba had a nightmare as well and he came down to sleep with us. I had told him that I had a nightmare as well. He asked what mine was about. I said it was about Seto and a girl and that's when Mokuba told me about Torey being there."

Tears were running down my face by that time. I lifted up my hand to wipe my eyes, but Joey placed his hand over it. His other hand left me knee and he cupped my cheek as he wiped under my eye with his thumb.

"Don't let tears for that jerk drown your beautiful face," Joey murmured.

My heart jumped as he said those words. I did not know what to say or do. I looked around us. We were sitting at the top of the Wheel. It seemed so quiet, but I could faintly hear the bustling crowds below us.

Joey's hand left my cheek and headed towards the top of my head. He held his finger out a second later. A snowflake quickly melted on his finger from the heat of his skin. So much for thinking it was going to rain.

"One of the first snowflakes of winter," I said with a small smile. "Can I ask you something, Joey? What were you gonna say before Mokuba sang out to me?"

Joey looked slightly shocked. He looked down as he spoke, "I think Kaiba never deserved you." He looked up at me. His eyes held an emotion I could not quite put my finger on. He moved closer to me, our faces were so close. I could feel his breath on my lips. It gave me goose bumps. "You are so caring, so gentle, so funny, so beautiful, so perfect..."

Joey closed the gap between our lips with a soft kiss. I was in total shock for a second. Joey had kissed me once before and the circumstances were pretty much identical. However, there was something different about that moment. There was no uncertainty in my mind. And with that, any thoughts of Seto flew out of my mind as I kissed Joey back. His lips were so soft and his kiss was so gentle.

I immediately regretted pulling away when thoughts of Seto filled my brain once more. I quickly looked down. What was I supposed to do then? Did I act like the kiss never happened and save myself an awkward situation? Or did I talk to Joey about it and see what his motivation behind it was? Maybe it was just to get my mind off Seto, because it certainly worked. I sneaked a peak at Joey. He was looking to the side, off in the distance. He appeared to be lost in his own thoughts. I placed my hand on Joey's knee, shocking him out of his state of thought. He looked at me and smiled.

The cage door opened beside us. The ride was finished. Joey stepped out before helping me. We walked a few paces away from the still rather long line for the Ferris Wheel and waited for the others. Joey brushed his fingers against my hand but did not do anything more. I was expecting him to attempt to hold my hand. Remembering Mokuba had said he and Toby were going on the Mega Drop, I looked in that direction. A rather large group of people were surrounding the base of the ride. I did not think much of it so I turned my attention back to the Ferris Wheel. Yugi, Téa and Tristan had just hopped out of their cage.

"I don't like the look of that group at the Drop," Téa said, looking in that direction.

"I'm sure it's nothing," I piped up. "But I wanna go see if Mokuba's gone on it yet."

As we walked towards to Mega Drop, more and more people were gathering around the ride. People were jogging past us to join the mob. It was then that I knew something was wrong. As I sped up, I scanned my surroundings to see if I could see Mokuba or Toby.

"Callie!"

Toby pushed himself through the crowd, a look of fear on his face. He had a phone in his hand. Toby said a few words into it before sliding it into his pocket. I met him halfway. The gang followed me.

"Toby, where's Mokuba?" I asked.

"And what's going on?" Yugi asked from beside me.

"There's something going on with the drop mechanism, it won't let go. They don't know what's wrong with it. And the harnesses have unlocked. The only thing holding them in is the belts holding the harnesses down." Toby cried.

"How do you know all that?" Tristan asked as I ran forward in an attempt to get through the crowd.

"Callie, wait!" I heard Joey yell behind me, but I did not stop. I made my way to the front of the mob and looked up. I could not see Mokuba. I looked around me before looking back up at the platform. I focused my eyesight and was able to make out a thick mane of black hair.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" I muttered to myself.

"Cal!" Joey said from behind me as he placed a hand on my shoulder. He spun me around. "It's okay. He'll be alright."

"He's 40 feet above the ground! What if he falls? What if the platform falls?"

I was nearly hysterical. The possibility of Mokuba falling to his death was filling me with dread. What could I do to prevent the worst-case scenario? Not much. Joey was trying to calm me down and get me to look at him, but his attempts were futile. I had to get to the bottom of it and find out what went wrong. I roughly pushed my way through the crowd until I came to the side of the ride where three attendants were standing.

The men were not prepared for me. I barged my way through the last few people of the crowd and no consideration, pushed the person who was already yelling at the attendants out of the way and let loose.

"What the fuck are you doing? Isn't it your job to make sure the ride is in working order before you let people on? My little brother is up there! If he gets hurt, I will sue your arses! Now, do everything in your power to get him down from there!"

I was in tears. The blonde, who was the tallest of the three, looked at me in utter shock. He did not say a word. I had every intention to grab him by his shirt and yell right in his face, but I was not graced with the opportunity. Joey stopped me. He roughly turned me around and pulled me into a tight hug. I knew he was not going to let me go until I had calmed down a little bit. He kissed the top of my head and immediately my breathing slowed. Joey suddenly felt tense. I pulled away from his chest and looked up at him. He was glaring at something. I looked over my shoulder and my heart jumped.

Seto was standing there. I looked where he was standing and realised it was him I had pushed out of the way in my mad rampage. His eyes held so much anger. I knew why. Aside from the fact Seto's brother was stuck on a ride metres above the ground, his cold blue eyes were boring into Joey's warm brown ones.

"Okay, it's time to go," I said to Joey as I tried to push him back towards the crowd.

Joey moved himself away from me and continued walking away from Seto without me pushing him. He looked up at the Mega Drop platform. I could not help but look too. I could not make out Mokuba's face, but I could tell he was scared. Who would not be? I needed the others with me. I knew they would be able to handle Joey's anger better than I would at that moment; I was so worried about Mokuba.

The beeping of a reversing truck filled my ears, as I frantically looked around, trying to spot the gang. I looked towards the back of the mob of people and saw Police officers trying to separate the crowd. There was a cherry picker reversing up to the Mega Drop. They were getting the people off the ride. I felt a wave of relief wash over me, but I was still worried and I would not feel better until Mokuba had both feet firmly on the ground. I spotted Téa, Yugi and Tristan standing a few feet away with Toby. I called out to Téa to get her attention. She spotted me and led the gang over to Joey and me.

"Mokuba's gonna be okay, Callie," Téa said reassuringly, as she hugged me.

I nodded as I hugged her back. "I still can't believe this happened. I mean, who has ever heard of a ride totally shutting down halfway though?"

We watched as the truck reversed slowly through the separated mob of people. I was feeling anxious. My body was shaking and I could not stop it. The truck stopped and a tall man climbed out of the cabin. I watched nervously as the man operated the cherry picker and slowly raised the basket to the top of the Mega Drop. One by one, the people on the ride were brought down to ground level and reunited with their friends and family. I began bouncing on the balls of my feet while waiting for Mokuba to be rescued. Joey must have noticed because he grabbed hold of my hand and gently pushed my hand down to stop me from moving. Well, I stopped bouncing. I tightened my hand around Joey's as Mokuba was finally pulled from the platform. I rushed forward as he got lower to the ground.

Mokuba did not have a chance to step out of the picker before I swept him into my arms. I had not noticed I was crying until that moment.

"Oh my God, are you okay?" I asked frantically as I began checking him over for any sign of injury.

"I'm fine now, Callie," Mokuba replied as more people began surrounding the platform to claim their friends and loved ones. Mokuba was shaking.

I was so glad he was okay. I pulled him into my arms again. I did not want to let him go.

"Mokuba? Are you okay?"

I pulled away from Mokuba and spun on my heel as Mokuba ran over to the person who had called out to him. I could not here what Toby was saying, but at the speed his mouth was moving, I was sure he was asking Mokuba about his experience being stuck on a ride.

"Hey look," Yugi said from beside me. "Kaiba's here."

Sure enough, Seto had appeared behind Mokuba and Toby. Seto said something before Mokuba turned around. He knelt down and hugged Mokuba tightly. He must have been worried about his little brother. I could not help but smile; that soft side that made me love him. However, as soon as that small smile appeared on my face, it disappeared as thoughts of Seto and Torey filled my mind. I wondered why she was not there with Seto. Maybe she was at the Kaiba Mansion, waiting for him in his office, lying on his desk, naked and ready for him to –

"We have to go," I said suddenly, stopping my thoughts from progressing further. "Now."

"Where are we going?" Téa asked while looking around before her eyes landed on my face. "Hey, what's wrong? You look like you're gonna cry, or hit someone."

The gang suddenly made a fuss over me, asking me what was wrong while I kept my eyes on Seto. He was looking back at me. I looked away from him; I could not hold my gaze any longer. Joey must have noticed who I was looking at and put two and two together.

"C'mon, Callie, we'll get you away from that asshole."

"What did you call me, Wheeler?"

Joey spun around so fast he stumbled a little bit. I gasped, as did the others. Seto popped up out of nowhere. I did not even notice him approaching.

"You heard me, Kaiba. You're an asshole," Joey snapped.

"Watch what you say, Wheeler," Seto said darkly.

I could tell it was going to end badly. I was thankful the crowd had pretty much disappeared; I really did not want those two hot heads to make a big scene in front of everyone.

"I'll take my chances. Do you ever stop to think about who you impact when you decide to act like the arrogant prick you are, Moneybags?" Joey inquired angrily.

Seto did not answer. His fists were clenched and shaking aggressively. I was not sure if it was wise to get in the middle of him and Joey. If I knew my luck as well as I thought I did, Seto probably would have thrown a punch, his fist would have connected with my face, and I'd be down for the count. I did not want Seto and Joey to fight. Regardless of what Seto had done, I still loved him, but I did not want Joey to get hurt in the process of defending me.

"Come on guys, you two shouldn't be fighting, especially in front of Callie. Look at her, she's hurting," Yugi said loudly.

All eyes were on me. Even Mokuba and Toby had appeared and focused their attention on me. I sighed and covered my face before looking at Seto and Joey.

"I don't want you two to fight. I know you do anyway, but I don't want to be the reason behind each argument. Not now," I said tiredly.

"Maybe you should put your dog on a leash, Andersen," Kaiba snipped.

That was it. Yugi and Tristan had to hold Joey back. He was desperate to get his hands on Seto. He was shouting profanities. Seto was standing there with his arms folded, a satisfied smirk on his face. I was not going to stand for it. I walked past the three boys and stood in front of Seto.

"Maybe you need a muzzle, Kaiba. What gives you the right to talk about Joey like that? And why do you have so much dislike for me? Calling me Andersen? If memory serves me, you fucked up; I should hate you. You were the one who slept with Torey and lied to me about it! The paper was right."

Seto was mad. However, I could see something in his eyes. Desire burned brightly in them. I had no idea why, but I did not feel as mad as I had been. His eyes were so hypnotic. But, I could not be drawn in. I roughly shook my head.

"Don't call Joey a dog again," I muttered before walking around Seto. I ruffled Mokuba's hair as I walked by. I wanted to get away from Seto. I was not got going to run back to him, not matter what my heart was telling me.

I had to run. I needed to be alone for a few minutes. My pace quickened until I was sprinting. I ran out the front gates of the carnival and down the road. I did not know where I was going, I just ran. The streets were deserted and the air was cold. Even the do not walk signals at the traffic lights did not hinder my speed.

My feet finally came to rest at the end of a pier. My knees hit the wooden panels hard. All I wanted was to stop the pain. My heart was close to bursting. My head felt like it was going to explode. Tears fell from my eyes as I stared up at the sky. The clouds were clearing. A few stars sparkled as I looked at them. Maybe it was mum, telling me not to give up.

A cold breeze whipped past me. It was even colder on my face where my tears had run down my face. Grabbing each side of Joey's jacket, I wrapped them around myself and tried to get warm. I nuzzled my face into the popped collar and Joey's strong musky smell entered my airways. It was my comfort. The real thing would have been perfect at that moment. Joey was my best friend. He was always there for me, even if the last comforting thing he had done was kiss me.

"You've got some power legs on ya."

Looking over my shoulder, I saw Joey standing there. Well, actually, he was leaning against one of the pier beams, trying to catch his breath. He must have followed me all the way to the pier. He straightened himself up before slowly walking over to me. He plopped down next to me and stared out into the ocean.

"I'm sorry for startin' on Kaiba. What he's done to you just makes me so angry," Joey muttered.

"It's okay, Joey," I said softly, looking at him. I held my arms out and hugged him. "I just don't know what I'm going to do; I can't stay at Yugi's all the time."

Joey pulled me to arm's length. "Stay with me."

I opened my mouth to speak but Joey cut me off.

"I will not let you be alone, Callie. I will not leave you. Stay with me."


	17. Chapter 17

I made an uncertain sound as I looked at the massive sign above the shop in front of me. "I don't know whether I want to do this anymore..."

"Come on Callie," Téa urged. "You were all for it this morning."

That morning I had woken up in the spare room of the Wheeler apartment with newfound energy. I was not going to let the drama with Seto get me down. I had great friends that would do anything for me; I did not need Seto. Well, that was what I kept telling myself. As proof that I was going to move on from him and start fresh, I had decided to change my attire yet again and get a haircut. I changed my jeans to a pure denim pair and traded my top and arm sleeves for a purple singlet and stripy white and purple full arm sleeves. The haircut was more of a spur of the moment thing really. I told the gang of my revelation and they were happy, Joey was nearly jumping for joy. We had not properly spoken since the night before. I still wanted to talk to him about the kiss we shared, but I was waiting for the right moment. At that point, I was very conflicted with my emotions.

Anyway, Téa had agreed to join me on my adventure to the hair salon and watch as I got rid of my past. And that was when I began to doubt the thoughts I had that morning.

"I know I was, Téa..." I sighed. "It took me forever to grow my hair though."

Téa did not say anything; I think she knew I was debating whether I really wanted to go through with it. It had taken me years to get my hair to that length. I was very proud of it. But I wanted a fresh start. I wanted a fresh start more than two months beforehand. Better late than never. I took in a deep breath before stepping forward.

My eyes were shut tight. They had been closed since I first sat down in the chair. The woman asked me what I wanted and my only response was 'make me a new person'. I nearly cried when I felt her cutting away at my hair. The weight my hair was putting on my head was being lifted. Téa had to lead me to the hair basins when the hairdresser was ready to wash out the dye she had put in my hair. I did not know what colour she had put in. Every now and then Téa would make a comment like 'oh my God, Callie' and 'oh wow'.

"We're all done, darl," the woman said kindly as she scrunched up my hair to give it a bit of volume.

"I'm not game enough to look," I said nervously. My legs were shaking.

"It looks gorgeous!" Téa said breathlessly. "You'll love it, Callie!"

I slowly opened my eyes and gasped. Well, the hairdresser took my words on board. I looked like a different person. My long dirty blonde locks were gone. From the base of my neck down was empty space. What was left of my hair was cut into a choppy bob with sweeping full bangs. I was no longer blonde; ebony black hair framed my face. But what surprised me, was the colour of my hair when the light hit it. Bright red highlights made my new hairstyle complete.

"Oh, my God," I finally managed to breathe out. I ran my fingers through my hair. It was so smooth.

"What do you think?" the woman asked while fixing up little bits of my bangs.

"It's amazing..." I said happily. "I can't thank you enough."

I got up and nearly fell forward. I did not need to use as much force to get up. As Téa and I walked over to the counter, I kept swinging my head side to side. It felt so strange not having my long hair whipping around me. While paying for my appointment, for reasons unknown, I thought back to the kiss Joey and I had shared the night before. I did not know why but it put a smile on my face. I could not wait to show him my hair.

"Callie?" Téa piped up as we walked out of the salon. "Before we go meet up with the boys, can I talk to you about something?"

I nodded. "Sure. What's on your mind, Téa?"

We sat down on a bench a little way down the street and Téa sighed.

"I saw Joey kiss you last night," Téa confessed.

I did not expect her to say that. What was I supposed to say to it? Maybe just brush it off.

"Is there something going on between you two?"

"No," I said abruptly. "I don't want Joey to be a rebound. Besides, I don't like him like that. I think he kissed me to take my mind off Seto..." At least that was what I kept telling myself.

Téa gave me a stern look. "If you say so. So did it work?"

"Did what work?"

"The kiss."

I could feel my cheeks burning. I slowly nodded. It did take my mind off Seto. Even then, every time I thought about it, everything that happened with Seto seemed obsolete. But, I did miss Seto's kisses, no matter how much I disliked him.

"Does Joey know that you seen us?" I asked Téa. She shook her head. "Good. 'Cause I haven't even talked to him about it."

"Maybe you should. I'm sure he wants to," Téa smiled. "Anyway, we better get going. I'm sure the guys will think you're a totally different person."

We stood up and headed down the street. Téa had arranged with the guys that morning that we would meet them at the main park of the city, which happened to be near KaibaCorp. They wanted to work out what the plans were for that night. Yugi was particularly impatient; it was as if he needed to know at that moment. Truth was I had no idea what we were going to do. I wanted to do something that we could all enjoy. We did not need another drama like the one that had occurred the night before. There was always the new Karaoke Bar that was supposed to be opening that night, but I had not read the article from that paper to get the details.

I sighed as I focused on where I was walking. About half a block away, I could see a familiar person heading our way. They were walking rather briskly, like they were being timed.

"Tilly!" I called happily.

Tilly looked shocked that someone had called her name. She was close enough that I could make out her face properly. She was looking at me rather strangely.

"Sorry, do I know you?" she asked uncertainly when she stopped near me.

"It's Callie," I smiled.

Tilly got a look of realisation on her face. "Oh! Miss Andersen! I'm sorry!" She bowed in front of me. "I didn't recognise you. You look so different!"

I laughed. "I just got it done. What are you doing anyway? You look like you're in a hurry."

"Mr Kaiba wants me to get a few things. The coffee machine in his office is broken," Tilly explained.

I looked at Téa in mock shock. "Oh, no! Seto has to make his own coffee! I don't know whether he'll be able to manage it!" I started laughing, as did Téa. "I'm sorry Tilly," I added quickly when I saw Tilly's curious look. "As you are probably aware Seto and I are no longer together, so I feel the need to make fun of him. This is Téa, by the way. Téa, this is Tilly, Seto's secretary."

Tilly and Téa exchanged greetings before Tilly asked, "what are you up to?"

"Heading over to the park to tell my friends that we're heading to the new Karaoke Bar that's opening up tonight."

"Is that what we're doing?" Téa asked, shocked.

"Yep. You're more than welcome to join us, Tilly, if you're not doing anything?"

"Oh, no. Singing is not my thing, plus I have lots to do for Mr Kaiba," Tilly said, waving her hands in front of her face. "I better get going or Mr Kaiba will not be happy."

We said our goodbye's before going in separate directions. I made sure I did not make eye contact with the KaibaCorp building as we walked past it. I just stared at the ground. There was a high possibility that I would have seen Seto or Torey walk in our out of the building. I did not need that.

Téa and I crossed the road quickly and headed into the park. There were little kids running around in thick coats, having the time of their lives. It made me smile. Even though it was incredibly chilly, I did not feel the need for a jacket. I was a strange individual.

The guys were sitting on the other side of the park under a tree, talking amongst themselves. As we approached them, Téa walked ahead of me. Assuming Téa was going to say something to the guys that did not involve me, I hung back a bit.

"Guys, I'd like to introduce you to the new Callie!"

Téa quickly stepped out of the way so I was in full view. I shyly walked up to them and did a little curtsy. The three of them looked amazed. Tristan rubbed his eyes a few times while Yugi struggled to find words. Joey was looking up at me with his mouth open.

"You look so different, Callie," Yugi finally managed to say. "It looks great."

"Yeah. I can't believe you got rid of all your hair," Tristan commented.

I sat down between Joey and Yugi and Téa sat between Yugi and Tristan. Joey leant towards me. His breath on my neck sent shivers all through my body.

"You look gorgeous," he whispered in my ear.

"Thanks Joey," I murmured back. My cheeks felt hot. "Guys, I have decided what we're going to do tonight," I added loudly.

"Yeah," Téa said, "She's got the crazy idea that we should go to a new Karaoke Bar that is opening tonight."

"There's a Karaoke Bar opening?" Joey said excitedly. "Me and Tristan will get up and sing!"

Joey pulled himself up and Tristan got up shortly after. They stood next to each other before placing an arm on each other's shoulders.

"Can-can kick a little can-can!" they sung proudly while kicking their legs about in the typical 'Can-Can' style.

I had to laugh. Joey looked so happy and carefree. Nothing could have brought him down at that point. "Guys, that's not really karaoke."

"Maybe we should send you both to a burlesque house. You could be pioneers," Yugi sniggered.

"Sorry to burst your bubble, Yuge," I interjected ask Joey and Tristan sat back down. "But there are already male burlesque dancers."

"Aw, damn!" Téa laughed.

The gang and I spent the next hour or so just chatting and having a good time. I really enjoyed being around them. But, once again, my mind was constantly drifting back to Joey's kiss. I really wanted to know why he did it. The kiss we had shared over a month before was because Joey genuinely liked me. But, it was so long ago; surely those feelings were long gone. He had said when the whole saga with Dartz went down, that he did not think that he and I could be anything more than friends, we were like brother and sister. With that in mind, I had decided that he had kissed me to get my mind off Seto.

I took in my surroundings in an attempt to stop thinking about Joey for a minute. That was a mistake. Seto filled the spaces of my mind that Joey had inhabited moments before. The trees around the gang and me sent me back to the night Seto had arranged the picnic for the two of us. The night he told me he loved me. The perfect night ruined by my over-thinking. I could not get the image of him out of my mind. His piercing blue eyes, his soft brown hair, that well-toned body. Even though he was a total jerk to everyone, he did have his soft side. He had proven that many times with Mokuba, and with me. He actually cared about me. Well, he did when we were not at each other's throat, and when he was not screwing a company representative.

I was brought back to my senses by Yugi speaking up. "So we're heading to the new Karaoke Bar?" He pulled his phone out of his pocket and began texting.

I looked around our little circle. I saw no objections. "Yep. A night of embarrassing ourselves it is!"

"You won't embarrass yourself," Tristan remarked. "You're a great singer."

I shook my head. "I get stage fright. I'll end up screwing up the lyrics somehow. We should agree to sing at least one song each. That way we're all equally shamed. Then, if we want to sing more, we can."

I stood in my room at Joey's and looked around. I was not looking for anything in particular. I was just... lost. Falling back onto the double bed, I put my arms behind my head and stared at the ceiling. Seto had been prominent in my head since the gang and I had left the park. Despite the promise I had made to myself to start fresh, I could not. Seto had made such an impact of my life, even if half the time I had known him, we were either arguing or just downright not talking. What was I supposed to do? Every fibre in my body was telling me to call him and get answers out of him. Why did he do it? Why lie about it and make things ten times worse? But, I was not going to. I knew that if I rung him, the moment he said something, I would become a blubbering mess. Why did he have to be such an asshole?

I wiped my face to get rid of the tears that had been running down to my ears. There was a small table next to the bed. Propping myself up on my elbow, I opened the drawer and pulled out the only thing that was in it. The blade that I had used the day before was so shiny. It stood out against the darkened walls of the room. The energy I had felt that morning had diminished. I felt drained. The hurt that I had gotten rid of was back and was not leaving for a while. Unless...

I could not help it. It made me feel better. I felt so melodramatic that I would resort to the foolishness I had done the day before. The broken heart I carved into my left lower arm bled profusely. Rummaging through my clothes, I found the shirt from the night before and wrapped it around my arm. The blood loss was making me light headed so I flopped back onto the bed in a dramatic fashion and closed my eyes. Why was I being so bloody reckless? I knew it was stupid, but all rational thought had escaped me.

With my eyes still closed, I fumbled around and picked up the blade. Playing with it in my fingers, I thought about Joey, and his reaction to my stupidity. He did not have to know that I repeated the same act. He did not have to judge me even more. But I did feel horrible. He wanted to help me with my problems, but instead I confided in a blade whose job it was to make me bleed until I was satisfied.

A knock at the door caused me to drop the blade. I ignored it and quickly replaced the shirt on my arm with my arm sleeve while calling, "yeah?"

My heart skipped a beat when I heard Joey's voice respond. "It's me. Can I come in?"

Making sure the shirt that had been around my arm was well hidden in my clothes, I told Joey to come in. The door opened and Joey slipped in. A smile spread across my face when I saw him. I patted the spot next to me. Joey slowly walked over and sat next to me. He did not say anything. Maybe it was time to ask him about the kiss.

"Cal, I wanna talk to you about that kiss," Joey murmured, staring at the floor. I guessed he had been thinking about it too. "I need to tell you something. I kissed you because I-" He stopped. He was having trouble getting it out, so I did it for him.

"You kissed me to get my mind off Seto." Joey looked at me in shock. "I know, Joey. You just wanted to help me. And you did." I moved closer to Joey and hugged him tightly. "I can't thank you enough for being such a good friend."

Joey returned my hug before saying, "You know I'll do anything for you."

Being in Joey's arms was so comfortable; it gave me the same feeling being in Seto's arms did. It was not awkward at all. It actually gave me butterflies. He made me so happy. He would do absolutely anything to make me smile. I pulled away and gave him a warm smile. He returned it. His eyes were so warm. His perfectly sculpted face was so manly, his cheeky grin made my heart flutter. His chiselled collarbone...

My eyes widened. _Oh, shit..._

I knew it was a grand opening, but I did not think it was going to be as busy as it was. Maybe it was because they had divided the night club 'KAOS' into two sections: the Karaoke Bar for 16 years and up, then the actual night club for people older than 21. It was likely that half the people that were queuing out the front were there for the nightclub; after all, it was Saturday night.

Joey, Tristan and Yugi were standing behind Téa and I just talking amongst themselves while Téa and I were quiet. I knew she was studying me; I had not spoken since Joey and I had picked up her and Yugi. We then picked up Tristan and parked about two blocks away from the club. She was worried about me. She did not need to be though. I was just trying to sort through my thoughts while discreetly pushing the inside of my left lower arm into my stomach to stop it stinging. I really wanted to talk to Téa alone, but I wanted to make sure we had a spot inside before I dragged her off.

Slowly, the line began to move as people were being let in. I looked around and noticed a picnic bench on either side of the door. It must have been for people who wanted to get outside or something. We were close to the start of the line so we only had to wait a minute or so before the guard at the door let us through. I gasped in awe at how big the place was. There were at least 20 small round tables in the middle of the room in front of a nice looking stage with about 6 booths to the left hand side. On the right, there was a bistro with a bar. In the corner, there were double doors with a massive sign above them that read 'KAOS Night Club'.

There was a table right up front so I lead the gang towards it. We pulled up some chairs and the boys made themselves comfortable. Before Téa sat down, I tapped her on the shoulder and motioned for her to follow me. I asked the boys if they wanted any food or drinks. They put their order in and I lead Téa over to the bar. I ordered drinks for everyone then looked down as I rested my elbows on the bench.

"Téa, I think I'm falling for Joey..." I said over the hustle and bustle of the crowds still making their way through to the nightclub.

"What?" Téa yelled in utter shock.

"How can this happen? I don't want him to be a rebound thing..."

"Maybe it's not, Callie," Téa said thoughtfully as the barista placed our drink in front of us. I paid for them. "You've known Joey for as long as you've known Kaiba. Maybe you've always had these feelings, and they've only come out now because you've been getting closer to Joey 'cause of everything with Kaiba."

I grabbed half the drinks and Téa grabbed the rest. "But that makes it sound like he is a rebound. I suppose it's okay though; Joey doesn't like me that way."

"But he kissed you?" Téa questioned as we made our way back to the table.

"We talked about it," I muttered while keeping close to Téa so she could hear me. "He only kissed me to keep my mind off Seto."

Téa did not say anything as we approached the table. We put the drinks down and sat in our seats. The chairs were arranged in a semi-circle around the table with Tristan on one side with Joey sitting next to him, I was next to Joey, Téa was next to me and Yugi was on the other side of Téa. Everyone took their drink and placed it in front of them. I looked around that people slowly filling the room. It was going to be a full house. I wondered whether the gang would still go through with getting on the stage and putting themselves out there.

"You lot aren't going to chicken out on me, are you?" I questioned as I watched their nervous expressions. They noticed the amount of people that were still coming in through the only door in the place. I assumed there was a door leading out in the nightclub section, but I guess they had it closed off.

"There are a lot of people..." Tristan trailed off, looking around. I shot him a glare, daring him to say he was not going to sing. "Okay, I'll still get up there," he added quickly.

"Good."

The noise around us died down as a rather tall man walked into the stage. He was in a dark grey suit and had light brown hair. He must have been the owner.

"Good evening everyone and welcome to the grand opening of Domino's new Karaoke Bar!" he announced proudly. "As you can see, we have merged the bar with KAOS, but of course, under 21's are not allowed in the night club." There were a few groans around the room. "But nonetheless, you will have fun. I look forwards to seeing you all get up here and have fun."

The room applauded and the man retreated off the stage. I looked around in search for some form of roster to decide how everything was going to work. There was nothing. Maybe you just had to pluck up the courage and get up when the act before you finished. I was going to go with that theory. There was only one problem. No one was getting up. The room was full of nervous faces.

"I see no one has courage to get up and be the first karaoke singer?" the man from before said as he appeared on the stage again. "Come on people, there must be someone who wants to go first?"

I sighed heavily. The gang looked at me in shock as I stood up and made my way to the stairs on the side of the stage. Behind me, people clapped. My nerves were beginning to hit. My knees nearly buckled as I slowly stepped up the stairs and on to the stage. There were a couple of microphones just beside the top step.

"Here we go," the man said happily, as I approached him. "This lovely young lady has volunteered to be our first singer. What's your name, my dear?"

He wanted a name. I did not think I was comfortable giving my proper name just in case I made a complete fool of myself; I did not want those people knowing whom I actually was.

"CJ. The name's CJ."

It was the first thing to pop into my head, and it would not be hard for the gang to remember; the initials of my first and middle name. The gang looked up at me with confused faces. I just shrugged.

"Well, CJ. Now you can pick any song you like out of our database."

I turned around to look at the back right hand side of the stage. Two people in black slowly wheeled out a TV stand with a computer tower on the bottom tier, and two monitors on the top tier. One was a normal sized monitor and the other was two-thirds the size. One of the stage crew picked up the smaller monitor and placed it at the front of the stage. It must have been the lyrics monitor. I walked over to the computer stand and skimmed through their song selection. I had to admit, they had a lot to choose from. I found one and hit enter. Turning back around, I saw the man hold out the cordless microphone he had been speaking into. I walked up to him and took it.

"Good luck," he smiled before walking off the stage.

The crowd were looking up at me eagerly. The gang had supportive smiles. Joey held is thumbs up. I laughed a little before holding the microphone to my lips.

"Hey guys," I said nervously. "The song I have chosen is a personal favourite of mine. Hope you enjoy."

A few seconds later, the music started. I ran my fingers through my hair and waited for my cue to start singing.

_Stoplight, lock the door.  
Don't look back.  
Undress in the dark,  
And hide from you,  
All of you._

You'll never know the way your words have haunted me.  
I can't believe you'd ask these things of me.  
You don't know me.

You belong to me,  
My snow white queen.  
There's nowhere to run, so let's just get it over.  
Soon I know you'll see,  
You're just like me.  
Don't scream anymore my love, 'cause all I want is you.

Wake up in a dream.  
Frozen fear.  
All your hands on me.  
I can't scream.  
I can't scream.

I can't escape the twisted way you think of me.  
I feel you in my dreams and I don't sleep.  
I don't sleep.

You belong to me,  
My snow white queen.  
There's nowhere to run, so let's just get it over.  
Soon I know you'll see,  
You're just like me.  
Don't scream anymore my love, 'cause all I want is you

I can't save your life,  
Though nothing I bleed for is more tormenting.  
I'm losing my mind and you just stand there and stare as my world divides.

You belong to me,  
My snow white queen.  
There's nowhere to run, so let's just get it over.  
Soon I know you'll see,  
You're just like me.  
Don't scream anymore my love, 'cause all I want is you.

The room filled with applauds and cheers. My ears even heard the odd wolf whistle, which made me blush. The gang were on their feet cheering wildly. I had not messed up. A grin appeared on my face as I bowed.

"So who's next?" I called into the microphone.

I scanned the room and saw a young black haired girl quickly making her way to the stage. She looked nervous. She trotted up the stairs and walked up to me. I handed her the microphone and pointed her to the computer. I wished her luck before jumping off the stage. Téa ran around the table and gave me a massive hug.

"Oh my God, you were fantastic!" she squealed excitedly as she let me go. "I still can't believe how good you sound!"

I looked back at the stage and saw the girl I had given the microphone too standing there nervously. Her knees started shaking when the music began playing. I motioned for the gang to sit down. We took our seats and listened to the girl sing. She was not that bad, but you could tell she was frightened.

When she finished I pushed Joey off his seat, intending on making him be the next singer. He was not impressed. He huffed at me before making his way onto the stage. It did not take him long to pick a song.

_Shadows fall on yesterday  
It's like time just slips away,  
I'm nothing, darkness follows me.  
The dawning never shows its head  
I'm left dying here instead with nothing  
A lock without a key._

Like the brightest star, you shine through

Ashley baby, You make me feel so alive  
I've got purpose once again  
Yeah, yeah.  
Ashley baby, You make me feel so alive  
I've got purpose once again  
Yeah, yeah.

If looks could kill you'd be the one  
That takes my world and makes me numb,  
I'm nothing, without you I can't breathe.  
And as the sunlight burns the sky  
I see through my obsessive eyes,  
I'm nothing, without you I can't see.

Like the brightest star, you shine through

Ashley baby, You make me feel so alive  
I've got purpose once again  
Yeah, yeah  
Ashley baby, You make me feel so alive  
I've got purpose once again  
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Joey did not take his eyes off our table as he sung and I had to admit, he was not that bad. He had edge in his voice; it gave me Goosebumps. The only time he took his eyes off us was during the second chorus. He looked towards the back. His eyes did not move for a little bit. When they did, Joey looked at me with such determination. It startled me. He began singing the middle eight, but that time, he had such passion in his voice.

_You're the strength I need to fight,  
You're the reason I still try,  
I'm the moth and you're the light,  
Use these wings so I can fly  
I can fly_

Ashley baby, You make me feel so alive  
I've got purpose once again  
Yeah, yeah  
Ashley baby, You make me feel so alive  
I've got purpose once again  
Yeah, yeah  
Ashley baby, You make me feel so alive  
I've got purpose once again  
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah  
I've got purpose once again  
I've got purpose once again.

After dropping the microphone, Joey leaped off the stage, said something to Tristan and then turned to me.

"You were fantastic, Joey!" I cried as I gave him a massive hug. "I didn't know you could sing."

Joey laughed as he said, "Nah, I can't sing, Cal. I just have a built-in auto-tune device."

"Bullshit," I commented. "I didn't hear any auto-tune. Just admit it, Wheeler, you're a good singer."

Joey poked his tongue out at me as the cheers for Joey began to turn into a chant, but the chant was not for Joey. "CJ! CJ! CJ!"

I looked around and saw numerous people standing and pointing at me. Slightly shocked, I looked at Téa who motioned towards the stage. She said I should go please my fans. I laughed as I walked towards the stage stairs. I did not get to walk up them because someone grabbed my arm roughly and spun me around. Joey had a look of worry on his face.

"Cal, maybe you should let someone else sing," he said urgently. He was acting rather strange.

"Why?" I asked. "These people are cheering for me."

"But-"

I did not give Joey time to say anything. Even though I felt incredibly bad, I walked away from him and headed up the stairs. The patrons cheered as I crossed the stage to the song computer. I did not look towards the mob of people. It took me a good minute or so to find what song I wanted. Without looking up, I turned around and walked up to the front of the stage where I picked up the microphone. I finally looked out to the tables and nearly dropped the microphone. I did not know whether to cry or scream, but I knew why Joey did not want me to get on stage.


	18. Chapter 18

Seto was sitting in the very back booth, facing the stage, and he was not alone. Torey was right next to him, looking very smug. She was looking around the room with a small smirk on her face. How was it possible that the two of them were at the same place the gang and I were? Joey was looking up at me; his eyes were so full of worry.

I shook my head as I heard the music start. I tried my best to give off a different accent to my Australian one as I said into the microphone, "This is At the Beginning. It's supposed to be a duet, but I'll sing it by myself."

_We were strangers, starting out on a journey  
Never dreaming what we'd have to go through  
Now here we are and I'm suddenly standing  
At the beginning with you._

I tried my best to not look at Seto and Torey as I opened my mouth to sing the next part of the first verse, which happened to be the guy's lyrics. I began to sing, but I was cut off by a voice singing the same line beside me.

_No one told me I was going to find you  
Unexpected, what you did to my heart._

Joey walked towards me with a small smile on his face. He had another microphone. He probably grabbed it from the pile by the stairs. I could have jumped on him at that point, I was so happy he was on that stage with me. We both sung the chorus.

_When I lost hope, you were there to remind me  
This is the start_

And life is a road and I wanna keep going  
Love is a river, I wanna keep flowing  
Life is a road, now and forever  
Wonderful journey  
I'll be there when the world stops turning  
I'll be there when the storm is through  
In the end I wanna be standing  
At the beginning with you

_(Me) We were strangers on a crazy adventure.  
(Joey) Never dreaming how our dreams would come true.  
(Both) Now here we stand, unafraid of the future  
At the beginning with you_

_And life is a road and I wanna keep going  
Love is a river, I wanna keep flowing  
Life is a road, now and forever  
Wonderful journey  
I'll be there when the world stops turning  
I'll be there when the storm is through  
In the end I wanna be standing  
At the beginning with you_

_I knew there was somebody, somewhere  
Like me alone in the dark  
Now I know my dream will live on  
I've been waiting so long  
Nothing's gonna tear us apart_

_And life is a road and I wanna keep going  
Love is a river, I wanna keep flowing  
Life is a road, now and forever  
Wonderful journey  
I'll be there when the world stops turning  
I'll be there when the storm is through  
In the end I wanna be standing  
At the beginning with you_

_Life is a road and I wanna keep going  
Love is a river, I wanna keep going on_

_(Me) Starting out on a journey..._

_(Both) Life is a road that I wanna keep going  
Love is a river, I wanna keep on flowing  
In the end I wanna be standing  
At the beginning...  
With you_

The song ended with Joey and me facing each other. Even though cheers were filling the room, it was as if I had blocked them out; I was only focusing on the person in front of me. Joey reached up and stroked my cheek with the back of his fingers. His touch sent shivers down my spine. I finally looked towards Seto and Torey. I wished I had not.

The moment I looked towards them, Torey launched herself at Seto and got him in a tight lip-lock. I watched as Seto's hand moved to Torey's head and his fingers entwined themselves in her hair.

"Fucking asshole," I muttered as I dropped the microphone and jumped off the stage. I ran past the gang and the people who were watching me. I was coming up to Seto and Torey's booth when I saw Torey shoot a triumphant smirk at me. Seto was looking at me too, but he had a curious, yet troubled look on his face. I burst through the entrance door and plopped down on the picnic bench to the left of the door; there were a group of people sitting at the one on the right, just having a good time.

I could not help but let out a sob as I held my head in my hands. Torey had smirked at me. How could she have known it was me? She had only seen me twice and both times were only brief encounters so I doubted she had time to remember my face. Even if Torey had, how would she have been able to recognise me with different hair? Why were she and Seto there in the first place? As if Seto would take someone to a Karaoke Bar, I knew him well enough to know that it was not his kind of place.

The entrance door opened beside me but I did not look up. I heard footsteps approach me and someone sit down beside me. An arm wrapped around my shoulders and pulled me towards a well-toned body. Joey's scent filled my nostrils as I snuggled into his chest.

"She knows it's me," I muttered while trying to hide the fact I was crying.

"Who? The girl Kaiba's with?" Joey asked.

"Yeah. That's Torey." I stood up and took a few steps away. Every bone in my body was aching. My mind was ready to explode, so I just let go of it all. "But I don't understand how she knows. I look completely different. I don't even think Seto knows. But this is good right? Seto's obviously making it clear that he wants to be with Torey, so that means I can move on. But I still love him so much. I ended up cutting a broken heart into my arm just to personify the way my heart feels, but now I'm even more confused; I love Seto but now I think I'm falling for you and I don't want to because I don't want you to be dragged into this any further. Oh shit."

I had only just realised what I said. My only hope was that Joey did not hear that I said I was falling for him. If he did, it was going to make things more complicated. Damn me and my feelings.

"Callie," Joey piped up from behind me. I turned around and looked at him. He was staring at the ground. "I didn't kiss you to help you stop thinking about Kaiba."

_He didn't?_

I looked at Joey in confusion as he stood up and slowly walked towards me. The wind picked up around Joey, making his hair blow all over the place. It made him look so sexy.

_Stop it, Caledonia, _I told myself angrily. It was not the time to be having those sorts of thoughts.

Joey stopped in front of me and wrapped his hand around my upper arm lightly. "I kissed you because I wanted to feel your lips again. I love you, Callie. I have for a while."

I stood there dumbfounded. I had two people confess their love for me in a week. It probably was not the best time to be feeling good about myself, but I must have been quite a good catch.

"But what about everything you said to me in America? About me being like your sister and not thinking we could ever be together?" I asked hurriedly.

Joey laughed. "I had to say that; you were so upset about Kaiba. I didn't wanna make things worse."

"So you tell me now?" I said, trying to conceal a smile. I was not mad at him. I knew he was only trying to help in America. I assumed he told me that he loved me then because I had let slip that I had feeling for him.

"Well, you said you might have feelings for me. And Kaiba's being a prick. So I thought I'd let my feelings known," Joey shrugged, looking away. He let go of my arm.

I still did not know whether I wanted to be in a relationship with Joey, it was just too soon. And because my heart still belonged to Seto, I did not want to have Joey give me his heart if I could not give him mine.

"I can't be in a relationship with you, Joey. Not with everything that happening with Seto; it's not fair on you," I said quietly.

Joey nodded but did not look at me. I knew he was upset. Would it have been such a bad thing if Joey and I did couple-like things together, but not actually be in a relationship? What am I talking about; of course, it would have been a bad thing. But giving him one kiss would not hurt, would it?

"Joey," I murmured, trying to get Joey to look at me. He looked at me and smiled slightly. "I can't get Seto out of my mind. Will you help?"

Joey did not need asking twice. In a swift movement, he lightly grabbed my waist and pulled me into him. Tilting my chin up with the tip of his finger, Joey lent forward and pressed his lips against mine. My heart jumped when I felt the softness of his lips. I kissed back as I wrapped my arms around his neck. My lips parted and Joey took the opportunity to explore my mouth with his tongue. Joey's grip on my waist tightened as I pulled away slowly. Joey seemed upset that I had ended the kiss.

"I know you don't want to be with me right now, but I really enjoy being with you, Cal," Joey whispered, leaning his forehead against mine. "Please just let me in."

"I don't want you to be a rebound," I said. "And I'll seem like such a bad person if I say you can kiss me and cuddle me whenever you please."

Joey moved away from me but did not break eye contact. "Think of it as a way to get back at Kaiba. You know he'll blow his top if he thinks we're together. I know you don't wanna use me, and you won't be. I want to help you get over Kaiba."

"But he doesn't even know it's me," I commented. The fact that Joey was offering to basically be my rebound to get back at Seto and get over him was making me feel so bad.

"He'll find out eventually. Let me do this for you, Cal," Joey urged.

He seemed so determined; I did not think he was going to give up without a fight. So, much to my dislike, I nodded. "But, this does not mean that I'm happy about it."

Joey smiled and swept me up in his arms. He spun me around a few times before putting me down. Maybe Joey's plan would not be such a bad thing. It was just trying to explain the situation to the gang. I knew Téa was going to judge me.

I suggested to Joey that we head back inside so the gang did not go outside looking for us. I went to walk around him but he grabbed my hand lightly.

"I heard everything you said, Callie. You cut again. I know you only have this sleeve covering it. You need something better." He pulled at my arm sleeve lightly.

"I can't take it off," I said, pulling my arm away from Joey and hiding it behind my back. "Someone might see them."

"I know you're hurting, but I don't want you to do this anymore. At least take the sleeve off until we get home and I'll put a proper wound dressing on it. You can't tell me that having the material on it doesn't irritate you."

Sighing in defeat, I slowly pulled off my left arm sleeve. The blood from the carved heart in my arm stung as the dried blood was pulled from it. When my arm was free, I shook out the sleeve and flexed my arm. The arm sleeve was shoved in my pocket.

"I'm leaving the other one on," I said carelessly as I ran my hand over my now exposed cuts. "Just to be different."

"I doubt anyone will see them now. It's pretty dark in there," Joey said as we began walking towards the entrance door.

As Joey wrapped his arm around my waist, I began to think about how everything would play out if by chance, Seto decided to come back to me and I caved in and took him back. What would Joey say? How would he feel? Why did I think about that stuff after I agreed to the plan?

I pulled the entrance door open and was nearly pushed over by someone walking out the door quickly.

"Oh, jeez! I'm sorry Callie!" Tristan exclaimed in surprise as Joey tried to hold me up.

"What's your rush?" I asked as Yugi and Téa appeared behind him.

"We came out to see if everything was alright, you've been out here for ten minutes," Yugi replied. "Let's go back inside."

We walked through the door but I could not go any further, due to Tristan standing in front of Joey and me.

"What's going on?" Tristan asked, indicating to Joey's arm, which was still wrapped around my waist tightly.

Joey's arm left my waist as he moved towards Tristan a bit and said, "It's to get back at Kaiba for screwing with Callie. He may not know it's her now, but he will."

"And how does this affect you?" Tristan shot at Joey. "You know, being in love with Callie-"

"What? You knew?" I shouted, astonished. A few people turned to look at me. "Why was I the last one to know?"

"Cause of everything with Kaiba," Téa piped up. "You didn't need any more stress. Now let's go back to our table and see who's getting up to sing next."

Yugi led the way back to the table. As Joey and I walked past Seto and Torey's booth, Joey draped his arm over my shoulder and brought me closer. I knew he did it because Seto was sure to be looking, even though Seto did not know it was me. A short mild laugh from behind me made me stop for a second before I kept moving. It was Torey. I knew it was and I wanted to spin around and punch her in the face, but it would not solve anything. I sat down at our table and sighed. I had to stop myself from getting back up to drag Torey out of the building by her hair to kerb-stomp her. Her laugh was resinating in my head. It was driving me insane.

A hand on my forearm made me jump in shock. Joey smiled at me before gently placing a kiss on my forehead. His fingers lightly brushed the heart on my arm. Joey's eyes shot down as he pulled my arm off the table and examined it.

"He really has broken your heart, hasn't he?"

I nodded while trying not to cry again. Joey pulled me into a tight hug as the person up on stage finished their song. I realised Joey and I were the only two in the gang that had gotten up on stage. I pushed myself off Joey and rounded on Téa and Yugi, who were back in their seats. "One of you needs to get on stage. " I then turned to Tristan, who was also in his seat. "Or you."

Tristan frantically waved his hands in front of his face. "No, no, no, no! Yugi or Téa can go next!"

Beside me, Téa startled me by standing up suddenly and walking around the table. "C'mon, Yugi," she said as she grabbed Yugi's hand and pulled him towards the stairs of the stage. Yugi had a look of horror as they made their way onto the stage. I let out a loud "ha" as Téa gave Yugi a microphone and walked towards the song database.

"Somehow, I don't think Yugi is a fan of public singing," I observed while trying to stop myself from laughing.

"No, but he is a fan of singing in the shower," Joey said before bursting into a fit of laughter. Tristan joined in but quickly shut up when Yugi gave them a glare I did not think he could pull off.

Téa returned to the middle of the stage next to Yugi and cleared her throat as the music started.

_(Yugi) I remember what you wore on the first day  
You came into my life and I thought  
"Hey, you know, this could be something"  
'Cause everything you do and words you say  
You know that it all takes my breath away  
And now I'm left with nothing_

_(Both) So maybe it's true  
That I can't live without you  
And maybe two is better than one  
But there's so much time  
To figure out the rest of my life  
And you've already got me coming undone  
And I'm thinking two is better than one_

_(Téa) I remember every look upon your face  
(Yugi) The way you roll your eyes  
The way you taste  
You make it hard for breathing  
(Téa) 'Cause when I close my eyes and drift away  
I think of you and everything's okay  
I'm finally now believing_

_(Both) That maybe it's true  
That I can't live without you  
And maybe two is better than one  
But there's so much time  
To figure out the rest of my life  
And you've already got me coming undone  
And I'm thinking two is better than one_

_(Yugi) I remember what you wore on the first day  
You came into my life and I thought, "Hey,"_

_(Both) Maybe it's true  
That I can't live without you  
Maybe two is better than one  
But there's so much time  
To figure out the rest of my life  
And you've already got me coming undone  
And I'm thinking  
I can't live without you  
'Cause, baby, two is better than one  
But there's so much time  
To figure out the rest of my life  
But I'll figure it out  
When all is said and done  
Two is better than one  
Two is better than one._

I clapped loudly and wolf whistled at Yugi and Téa when they finished. Téa looked a little flustered and Yugi was blood red. Even though during the song, Yugi looked so confident. His voice carried really well.

Téa led Yugi off the stage while everyone was still clapping and made their way back to the table. I complimented them as Téa shoved her microphone in Tristan's face. He looked at Téa before pushing her hand away.

"You're the only who hasn't gone up yet, Tristan," Téa said, thrusting the microphone into Tristan's chest.

"But I don't want to," Tristan complained, putting the microphone on the table.

"C'mon Tristan," I encouraged. "The rest of us got up there and made fools of ourselves."

"If you don't walk up those stairs now, I will boot your ass onto that stage and nail your feet to it," Téa threatened darkly.

Tristan looked scared. Téa picked up the microphone and pushed it into Tristan's chest again. With his hand trembling, he took the microphone before getting up. Beside me, Joey suddenly yelled in pain.

"If I'm getting up there, you're coming with me, Joey," Tristan sighed as he pulled Joey up by the ear. Tristan grabbed the microphone off Yugi and passed it to Joey, who he was still pulling by the ear.

Téa sat down beside me and let out a deep breath. I leant over and told her that she and Yugi looked cute on stage together. The only response I got was a massive whack on my arm. I was about to say something else to annoy her further, but the people around us clapped and cheered. Music had begun playing and I assumed Joey and Tristan had already picked out their song. I listened to it and I had to laugh. The boys had chosen to sing to 'Get Low' By Lil' Jon and The Eastside Boyz.

I honestly do not think they were taking it seriously; they were acting all gangster and pulling poses while they were singing. They did sound good, but I was laughing so hard, I was sure people thought I was laughing at their singing.

Yugi suddenly got up and walked around behind me and Téa. I did not look to see where he was going. He probably needed to use the bathroom so I kept my eyes on the two loons singing on stage. Despite the fact that Seto was in the same vicinity as me, with his new girlfriend, I was really enjoying myself at that moment. I was with great friends and the two weirdos on the stage just made my night.

When the song was finishing, Yugi appeared at the table, sat back down, and quietly told Téa something. I did not pay any attention. I watched as Joey did a three finger wave to someone in the audience as he sung the final lyrics. He must have had a fan. The audience clapped wildly as the boys took a bow.

A familiar chuckle from behind me nearly made me jump off my seat. "Those two love the attention."

I looked behind me and nearly squealed. Duke smiled at me as I jumped up and pounced on him. My legs latched onto his waist as I hugged him tightly. It was so good to see him. He was the last person I was expecting to see. Duke put me on my feet and took in my appearance.

"Wow, you look so different," he said, tucking my hair behind my ears. "But you still look beautiful."

"Thanks, Duke. What are you doing here?" I asked, still shocked that he was there.

Duke looked over my shoulder. "Yugi and Téa called me and said something happened with you."

_So that's what they did yesterday!_

"Ya damn right something happened," Joey snapped behind me. Duke looked at him. "Kaiba's been screwing around."

"Guys, can we not talk about this now?" I asked before Duke had time to register what Joey had said. I ran my fingers through my hair. "I just want to enjoy the rest of my night."

Duke nodded and kissed my forehead before pulling up a chair and placing it behind Joey's and mine. We sat down and waited for the next person to get on stage.

A few more people got on stage and sung their hearts out. It was fun watching other people getting up there and enjoying themselves. After the last person left the stage, I looked around trying to find the next person who was getting on stage. No one did. We soon found out why. The owner walked onto the stage and picked up one of the microphones Joey and Tristan left on stage.

"Well guys, it's nearly time to close up," he announced. There were a few groans from behind us. "But I think we have enough time for one more song, so who want the last act?"

"You know, Cal," Duke said in my ear. "I haven't heard you sing in a long time..."

I rolled my eyes. I knew he wanted me to get up there. I decided I would do it for him. People clapped as I stood up and got up on stage next to the owner. Duke cheered my name and it made me smile, until I realised what he had said. I looked at Seto and Torey. Seto was looking at me, but I did not think he heard Duke. A few people behind the gang did though. I could see them whispering to each other.

"You've got some fans, Miss," the owner said to me, smiling. "How about we made it a duet? Any volunteers?"

"How about Kaiba?" a guy towards the back shouted, while pointing at Seto and Torey.

Various people around the room agreed with the guy and started chanting. I shook my head. There was no way Seto would get up on stage and sing. The chants got louder. I watched as Torey moved out of the booth, pulled Seto to his feet and pushed him towards the stage.

Well, my face dropped. Even though Seto did not look impressed, he walked up the stairs and took the microphone off the guy beside me. He then looked at me.

"Let's get this over with," he muttered coldly.

I wondered if he had figured out it was me. I nodded to the owner and he walked off the stage. I wandered over to the song database and started browsing. Footsteps slowly approached me and I felt a familiar presence beside me.

"Don't choose a love song," Seto said as if he thought he knew what I was going to choose.

"Don't tell me what to do, Kaiba," I said calmly, not even worrying about hiding my voice.

"Callie?" Seto asked, clearly shocked as I hit enter.

I looked him in the eye and shrugged before I moved the left side of the stage. The music started and Seto moved to stand about 2 metres away from me. I knew he was looking at me. I did not return his gaze. I looked at the gang who looked incredibly tense. Duke looked like he was ready to pummel Seto, and so did Joey, for that matter. Seto was the first to sing and when he did, I started at him in astonishment. He sounded perfect.

_(Seto) I'm at war with the world and they  
Try to pull me into the dark  
I struggle to find my faith  
As I'm slipping from your arms._

(Me) It's getting harder to stay awake  
And my strength is fading fast  
You breathe into me at last.

(Both)I'm awake I'm alive  
Now I know what I believe inside  
Now it's my time  
(Seto) I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life  
here  
(Me) Right here  
(Seto) Right now  
(Me) Right now  
I'll stand my ground and never back down  
(Seto) I know what I believe inside  
(Both) I'm awake and I'm alive

(Seto) I'm at war with the world cause I  
Ain't never gonna sell my soul  
I've already made up my mind  
No matter what I can't be bought or sold

(Me) When my faith is getting weak  
And I feel like giving in  
You breathe into me again

(Both) I'm awake I'm alive  
Now I know what I believe inside  
(Seto) I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life  
here  
(Me) Right here  
(Seto) Right now  
(Me) Right now  
I'll stand my ground and never back down  
(Seto) I know what I believe inside  
(Both) I'm awake and I'm alive

(Seto) Waking up waking up  
Waking up waking up  
Waking up waking up  
Waking up waking up

(Seto) In the dark  
(Both) I can feel you in my sleep  
In your arms I feel you breathe into me  
(Seto) Forever hold this heart that I will give to you  
(Both) Forever I will live for you

(Both) I'm awake I'm alive  
Now I know what I believe inside  
Now it's my time  
(Seto) I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life  
here  
(Me) Right here  
(Seto) Right now  
(Me) Right now  
I'll stand my ground and never back down  
(Seto) I know what I believe inside  
(Both) I'm awake and I'm alive

(Seto) Waking up waking up  
Waking up waking up  
Waking up waking up  
Waking up waking up

I had to wipe my eyes to stop my tears but that just made it worse. I placed the microphone on the stage and looked at Seto. He was just standing there. His eyes were shadowed. I approached him slowly. I did not know what I was thinking. Talking to him was not going to end well.

"You sing really well," I murmured over the sound of people making their way out the door.

Seto looked up at me. "You're talking to me?"

"That's all I wanted to-"

"Do you mind?"

Seto and I looked towards the stairs and saw Torey standing there with her hands on her hips. She strutted over and latched onto Seto's arm. I clenched my fists.

"Callie, let's go!" I heard Joey call from the floor. I held my hand up to silence him.

"You had your chance, sweetheart," Torey said cruelly before looking up at Seto. "You were amazing." Seto was not looking at her. He was still looking at me. Torey looked like she was about to hit me. I was ready for her. "Are you serious? You're still looking at that whore even though you're with me?" She pushed away from Seto and headed down the stairs.

That was it. I was going to hit her. Tell her to shut her mouth. I began to walk after her but Seto grabbed my arm with the exposed cuts. It happened so fast. I spun around on my foot and slapped Seto so hard, my hand was throbbing. The sound echoed in the nearly empty room. Seto looked down at my arm and saw the cuts. I snatched my arm away.

"Don't touch me!" I snarled before walking after Torey again. I was a woman on a mission. That mission was to confront Torey and tell her what I really thought.

I sped up as she walked out the door. I knew the gang and Seto were following me but I did not care. Pushing the door open, I spotted Torey walking towards a parked limo a bit further down the block. I caught up to her, grabbed her shoulder roughly and ripped her around. She swore at me but I talked over her.

"'I had my chance'? You're the reason my relationship fell to shit. And I'm a whore? Who was the one that kissed Seto when he had a girlfriend? Don't talk about me as if I'm beneath you."

Torey laughed in my face; something I was not expecting. "Excuse me? You left Seto when you ran off to Australia and he came to me. And now, you've deserted him twice in a week."

A felt a hand on my arm but I shrugged it off. I was so mad I wanted to strangle Torey.

"I deserted him?" I shouted, seething with rage. "He kicked me out 5 nights ago and two nights ago, I left Seto because you can't keep your fucking legs closed! And you call me a whore." Being well aware that it was just as much Seto's fault as hers, I could not have cared less at that point; she was pissing me off. "And why were you here? To gloat? 'Cause it seems pretty suss that you two would be here the night I am, not to mention that fact you knew who I was, even though I look different."

"I wanted a night out with the smart, sexy, rich man over there that used to be yours, but is now mine. Now stop being a jealous little cow and get over it."

The next thing I knew, I had Torey pinned to the ground but my hands could not reach her face. I pulled against whatever was holding me back, but to no avail. Torey was laying there with her arms covering her face. I was ripped off Torey while still trying to hit her. She slowly got to her feet while I pulled my arms free from whoever was holding them.

"You're a psycho," Torey muttered.

"Callie, stop it," Joey said as I felt him grab my wrist. He must have known I was about to take a swing. I stopped struggling slightly but Joey did not let go.

"Yeah, Callie, stop it," Torey taunted.

"Torey, do you not know when to shut up?" Seto shot at her, startling the lot of us. He was standing unusually close to me. He must have pulled me off Torey. He turned his attention to me. "I want to talk to you."

"Oh, no you don't," Duke stated coldly, stepping in front of me. "She's not going anywhere near you."

"Fine, Devlin. Andersen, why did you do it?" Seto asked.

I looked around Duke and gave Seto a questioning look. Seto brought his right hand up and grabbed his left forearm. I knew what he was talking about. Joey let go of me as I stepped around Duke. "You really want to know why? You tore my heart apart. You slept with her the same night you kicked me out. I hadn't even gotten out of the street and she rocked up. How low can you get? Yeah, I didn't tell you I love you straight away, and I was sorry. But now, I'm sorry for ever falling for someone like you."

Surprisingly, not one tear fell as I turned away and walked past KAOS. The gang ran after me. If Seto had not pulled me off Torey, I probably would have kept hitting her until she was out cold. I had no idea what was coming over me. I was so angry. That was the effect the situation had on me. I hopped in the car and put the key in the ignition. Téa jumped in the passenger seat and the four boys managed to fit in the back. The engine roared to life as I turned the key. The wheels spun as I took off. Not once did I take my eyes off the road, until I pulled up out the front of Joey's apartment complex. I just sat there and stared at the steering wheel.

"Cal?" Duke asked timidly from behind me as he placed a hand on my shoulder.

The tears appeared so fast and there was no stopping them as they fell from my eyes. I heard the gang get out of the car and Duke tried to coax me out. He opened the door for me and helped me out. Heavy sobs rattled my body as Joey led the way to his apartment. He opened the door and let us all in.

"I wanna talk to Cal for a bit," Duke told the others.

"I'll show you her room," Joey said quietly as he walked past Duke and me. He showed Duke the spare room then kissed my forehead. Duke had not let go of me since he helped me out of the car. He led me into the room and closed the door. We sat on my bed and Duke observed me.

"What exactly happened with you and Kaiba? I knew something was going on with you two in America but no one told me you had ever been together," Duke said as he pulled me into a hug.

It was so good to have one of Duke's big hugs. I told him everything that had happened between Seto and me, beginning from when he first asked me out and ending where I found out about him and Torey. Duke listened intently. I had stopped crying by the time I finished.

"I can't believe I tried to attack her. I mean, she was pissing me off, rubbing the fact that she now has Seto, in my face..."

"What about you and Joey? You seem pretty close," Duke said.

"Don't judge me, Duke, but I'm falling for Joey too. He knows, of course. But I didn't want him to be a rebound. Anyway, enough about me, how long are you staying?" I said, not wanting to talk about Joey. I was trying to figure out if I wanted to do what I had told myself to do while I was driving.

"Well, I was thinking about staying until after Christmas, that's a good three weeks with you guys before I go back to America."

"So, are you living there now?" I asked.

"Yeah, me and my girlfriend, her name's Hannah. You'll have to come back over and meet her," Duke said. He had such love in his eyes when he mentioned her.

"Is this the girl from Russia, or a different one?"

"A different one, things didn't work out with my ex."

I was so glad Duke had found someone special. It made me happy. I gave him a hug and asked him if he could get Joey for me. Duke got up and slowly made his way out the door. Not long after, Joey entered the room, his hands full of what looked like medical supplies. He put them on the bed before sitting next to me. Gently, he grabbed my arm and ran a finger over my cuts. He muttered something to himself before grabbing some antiseptic lotion and a cotton ball. After tipping some of the lotion onto the cotton ball, Joey began rubbing it on my cuts. I hissed in pain and tried to pull my arm away, but Joey kept a firm hold of my wrist.

"It'll stop in a minute Cal," Joey murmured, as he ripped open as dressing pad with his teeth.

The cotton bud had caused the scabs on my cuts to come off so blood was slowly oozing out of them. Joey placed the pad on them before wrapping my arm with a bandage.

"There," Joey said once he clipped the end of the bandage down. "They shouldn't get infected."

I looked at my arm without moving it form Joey's lap. "Thank you..." I muttered, feeling foolish. I took a deep breath before looking at Joey, who was looking at me. "Do you mind if we all stay here? Duke has nowhere to stay and I think it would be nice for us to have a sleepover that doesn't end in my heart being ripped apart."

Joey startled me when he took hold of my hand. "Of course, Cal. How about we start this sleepover with your heart being put back together slowly?"

I gave Joey a questioning look. Was he implying what I thought he was? I was hoping to ask him out properly. I knew me falling for Joey was not a rebound thing. It was the real deal. Hearing Torey say those things to me got me thinking. Maybe I needed to give up on Seto. It was painfully obvious that he did not want to be with me anymore. I knew it was going be a while before I fully got over what he had done, but I had to start somewhere.

"Let's not pretend to go out anymore," Joey murmured. "Let's go out for real."

I smiled before wrapping my arms around Joey's neck and hugging him. I whispered "okay" in his ear and pulled my head back to look in his eyes. He looked so happy. Joey's eyes moved to the floor and hardened. He let go of me and bent down to pick something up. The little blade that I had dropped that afternoon was between his fingers.

"You don't need this anymore," Joey smiled as he twisted around and aimed at the bin near the door. A clang confirmed that he had made the shot. I thanked Joey and turned his head to face me once more. He brushed my hair behind my ears. Our lips met in a soft kiss, sealing the deal.

Names of songs and artists (last chapter and this chapter, in order)

Snow White Queen – Evanescence

Ashley – Escape The Fate

At The Beginning – Donna Lewis & Richard Marx

Two Is Better Than One – Boys Like Girls Feat. Taylor Swift

Awake & Alive - Skillet


	19. Chapter 19

If there was ever a day in my life where I wished I had never gotten out of bed, it would have been Christmas Eve.

A light layer of fog covered the sidewalk and road out the front of Joey's building complex. Little kids were running after their parents who were holding large packages in their hands. They stumbled now and again as the children pulled on the longs coats that were keeping them warm. They must have been excited to know what they were getting for Christmas.

I smiled slightly as I watched from Joey's bedroom window. I was waiting for Joey to return from running some errands with his dad. I had been living in Joey's room for one week out of the three that I had been staying at the apartment, mainly because of Joey's gaming console. Joey's dad was more than happy to take me in; Joey had told him about everything that had happened between Seto and me. Duke had been around every day. It was so good to hang out with him. He was staying at Tristan's because he was the only one who had a spare room; I was still sleeping in the spare room at Joey's, Yugi did not have a spare room at all and Tea had family over for Christmas.

Joey and I were going well. The only fight we had was over where we were going out to dinner one night. The others were so happy when we announced our relationship the night we had the slumber party. Duke had a word with Joey shortly after, probably telling him if he ever hurt me, he would live to regret it. I had to admit I was still nervous about being in a relationship with Joey because my feelings for Seto were still as strong as ever, but Joey was so good about it. It made me feel incredibly bad about even being in a relationship with him.

I moved away from the window and sat on Joey's bed. It was so comfortable. He had not made it that morning so I did not feel bad about laying on it. As I lay there, I thought about what it would be like to have Joey laying next to me at that moment. I closed my eyes and sighed. The picture was vivid in my mind.

_He turned to me, his eyes full of desire. Propping himself up on his elbow, his finger trailed along my side before pressing his lips against mine. He shifted his body and crawled on top of me; our lips never parted. My hands made their way to Joey's head before my fingers buried themselves in his thick, golden hair. Still supporting his weight on his elbow, Joey's other hand cupped my breast lightly through my top and caressed it. Shortly after, his hand moved down between my legs and slowly began to rub. I bit my lip as I looked up at Joey. However, it was not Joey looking back at me._

My eyes shot open as the image of Joey turned into that of the man that had ruined my life 4 years before. I sat up and tried to calm my breathing. Was that how I was going to react if Joey ever wanted to that sort of stuff with me? There was no way that man could get his hands on me; he was locked away. I knew I acted like that with Seto, but I had been hoping that my mind was almost past everything. Maybe it was time to see a professional. I was not going to let that man control my life.

"Are you ready to head out?"

I looked towards the door. Joey leant against the doorframe with his hands behind his back. He had on a white cotton jacket with a grey fake fur fudd hat with earflaps. He looked rather cute.

"I didn't know you had a hat like that, Wheeler," I commented with a smile as stood up and walked towards him.

"Dad bought it and the jacket for me," Joey said, looking down at the jacket. "It's part of my Christmas present, he said."

"It suits you."

After kissing him lightly, I reached for my bag on the floor just near the door.

"I have a present for you, Cal," Joey said quietly.

I straightened up before I grabbed my back and looked at him curiously. He told me to close my eyes so I obeyed. Joey moved around in front of me before I felt something on my head. A hand grabbed my own and pulled me along. I stopped when I felt the hand let go.

"You can open your eyes."

On command, my eyelid slowly pulled apart and I found myself in front of Joey's mirror with Joey standing behind me. A leopard hat with long earflaps sat on my head. I pulled on the long earflaps to secure the hat.

"It suits you," Joey said as he held up something beside me. "Try this on too."

I took the purple, woollen, knee-length trench coat off Joey and slipped it on. It was a perfect fit. Examining myself in the mirror, I thought about how expensive the coat looked. The detail and tailoring was perfect; there was no way a coat like that would be cheap.

I opened my mouth to get up him, but his phone went off. He pulled it out and read his message. His eyes did not leave his phone for a few seconds. Anger was written all over his face. I was sure he was about to explode but he closed his eyes and put his phone back in his pocket.

"Are you okay?" I asked quietly.

Joey looked at me and smiled. "Yeah, Duke just said something that really annoyed me."

"Oh, I hope everything's okay. . . Now, don't tell me you spent a lot of money, Joey," I said warily as I turned to face him. "I'd feel so bad."

"It's okay, Cal. It's an early Christmas present. You deserve the best of everything," Joey murmured as he ran the back of his finger down my cheek.

Joey was so sweet. I had to admit, even though I looked really cute in the coat and hat, I felt bad. Joey did not have much money, and knowing that he spent so much on stuff for me, I had to pay him back somehow.

"Thank you, Joey..." I murmured before standing on my toes and giving him a sweet kiss. "We better get going; the gang are probably wondering where we are."

I dropped my various bags on one of the many benches in the middle of the mall, disregarding a newspaper that was laying there. Plopping down beside my bags, I watched as Téa did the same thing. She had nearly twice as many bags as I did. We had literally shopped 'till we dropped. Closing my eyes, I listened to the bustling crowds around me.

It was mid afternoon and the mall was even busier than that morning. Many people must have left their Christmas shopping until the last minute just as we had. I went through my mental shopping to make sure I had everything I had set out to get. I hoped I had grabbed the right presents for everyone. Téa's handbag was looking a bit tattered so I had bought her a new one along with a matching purse. Tristan had mentioned once before he loved to collect Wrestling figurines, and the newest toy had been released a few days before, so I grabbed it. I bought Yugi a little chest to keep his Millennium Puzzle in and an Egyptian box to keep his cards in. Joey was the hardest to buy for. I had no idea what to get him, but I ended up finding a little jewellery store which happened to have a rather detailed dragon pendant. The eye was a pure red ruby. I bought Duke some new earrings because I was sick of seeing the old one dangling from his ear. He would know I meant no offence.

I looked down at my jacket and suddenly remembered I wanted to pay back Joey for spending so much money.

"Téa, can you watch my bags? I have to get some money out," I said, getting up. Téa nodded while exploring her handbag.

Making my way through the mass of people walking in all directions, I pulled out my key-card to use in the ATM I had spotted earlier. There was a line so I joined the queue and observed my surroundings.

A small music store had a large 'Skillet' poster in one of the windows advertising a new album. The song Seto and I sung the night at the Karaoke Bar was by Skillet. I loved being on stage with Seto. Just being in his presence was enough to make everything okay. When he asked me why I had cut, there was worry clear in his eyes. He still cared about me. Yet, he had made no effort to try to contact me after I left him. He went straight for Torey. It was then that I realised I was not being fair to Joey. He gave his heart to me, but I still could not give him mine, even though I did love him. I felt so guilty, but I did not think I had the heart to tell him that it was still not fair on him and that we should end it, especially on Christmas Eve. I felt like the worse person in the world.

I got $200 out of my account before heading back to where Téa was waiting. I still had quite a substantial amount of money from selling Duke's Game Shop and from working for Seto, he payed his employees quite a lot of money.

The boys were standing around Téa as I approached the bench. They did not notice me so I walked up behind Joey and slipped the money I had just withdrawn into his pocket. His scent filled my nostrils and I felt a sense of peace and security.

"Hey, Joey," I said happily, in order to distract Joey from noticing my hand in his pocket. It worked.

"Hey, Cal. Did you get everything?" Joey asked. He gave me a soft kiss, which gave me butterflies.

"I think so," I said after a moment. "Did you lot get everything?" I added, glancing towards Duke who was leaning on a newspaper stand. I vaguely heard Tristan say something, but the display in the stand had caught my attention. I rushed over to Duke and bent over to read the front page of the paper.

I did not get a chance to read it. Someone grabbed me around the waist and hauled me away from the stand. Duke stood in front of it, hiding the front page from view. It was something they did not want me to read. I struggled against whoever was holding me, but it was futile.

"Callie, you don't need to read it!" Joey grunted and I realised it was him holding me. "It's not something you need to worry about!"

"Then why are you so intent on hiding it from me? It's obviously about Seto," I shot at him as I managed to break free.

"Which is why we don't want you to see it," Duke said as he walked towards me. "You don't need to see anything written about him, Cal. Please don't worry about the paper."

I looked away and sighed. They were right. I did not need to read about Seto, it would have been a horrid sight. No one had actually mentioned him to me and I had not read anything about him. Sure, I had thought about him, but as long as I did not see anything factual about him, I remained relatively sane.

Duke kissed my forehead after I nodded meekly. The gang grabbed everything of theirs while I moved to grab my own bags. I did not intend to read the paper. I was going to listen to Duke and Joey. Well, that was the plan until I picked up my bags and subconsciously glanced down at the paper that had been under my crap.

_SETO KAIBA'S BABY JOY_

_It has been confirmed that Seto Kaiba's love interest, Torey Donavon, is 4 weeks pregnant. Kaiba has not yet commented on this but Donavon has told us that they are both very excited, confirming that the baby is his.  
"It's a wonderful Christmas present."  
The couple have asked for privacy during this precious time. There is no word on how Kaiba's previous girlfriend, Caledonia Andersen, has handled this news._

The article was not that long, but there was more on the next page. I did not read it, the picture of Torey with her hand on her flat stomach covering the majority of the front page, save a small corner with a picture of Seto, was enough for me. I felt tears stinging my eyes, but I pushed them back down and looked towards the gang.

"Hey, Devlin!" I called while trying to hide the strain in my voice. The gang turned around and Duke walked back towards me. I moved away from the paper and met him halfway. "You have a fake ID, don't you? I want to drink."

It was a bad idea. A very bad idea, but I did not care. I had conned Duke into buying us all alcohol 'to celebrate Christmas' as I had put it. I did not tell them the real reason I wanted to drink. That news article had sent me through a loop. I had never been drunk before, but I heard stories of people feeling better after a few drinks, even though alcohol was a depressant. A bit contradicting, but that was enough for me. Torey was pregnant with Seto's baby. They did not use protection.

Téa's family had been kind enough to let us drink in the back yard while they had their Christmas party inside. We had set up a small bon fire with a few stools placed around it. Téa brought out her portable stereo so we had some decent music to sing along to.

I had no idea how any of us were getting home that night, or how I was getting the car to Joey's. I made sure the keys were safe in my pocket; no one was getting behind the wheel that night. But, I did not want to worry about the minor details; I just wanted the thought of Seto having a baby with someone else out of my head.

I grabbed my six-pack of Smirnoff Ice Double Black from near the back door and plopped down on one of the stools. I had never had Double Black before, but my friend from Australia, Peyton, had told me it was a really nice spirit and it got you wasted pretty quickly. Going by what she had said, and my desire to get drunk, well, it was a no brainer. Mind you, my brain had no desire to think clearly. My thoughts were a jumble of the excitement of getting drunk for the first time, the gut-wrenching thought of Seto getting another girl pregnant and the nervousness of possibly telling Joey that we should not be together. I knew Joey would never forgive me for breaking up with him on Christmas Eve. I did not want to put him through everything and I did not want to feel like crap. It did sound selfish, but Joey deserved so much more.

"You ready to get started?" Duke said loudly as he sat on the stool next to me. He took a big swig of his Woodstock.

"Looks like you already have," I commented with a smile before reaching down to grab a can of Double Black. "Guys, I have a confession." The gang congregated around the bonfire and sat down on the stools. They looked at me eagerly. "I've never been drunk before . . . "

"Really?" Joey asked in astonishment. "Even Yugi's been drunk!"

Yugi had been drunk before? The little, quiet leader of the gang? _Wow. _I stared at him. Joey handed Yugi a bottle of Jack Daniels and Cola before opening one himself. I waited for an explanation.

"We had a little party after the Battle City Finals," Yugi mumbled.

"We all got pretty trashed that night," Téa continued before taking a large gulp of her UDL. She then got up to turn on her stereo. "It's time to party!"

And party we did. Well, not really. We just sat around the bonfire, exchanging funny stories and belting out songs in a drunken fashion. It was rather fun. Four cans of Double Black and I was falling off the stool in fits of giggles. Téa was in the same state, while the boys were showing they could hold their alcohol well. Joey was on his sixth bottle of Jack Daniels while Yugi, Tristan and Duke were only on their fifth. They were all standing near the back door, talking amongst themselves quietly; Joey kept glancing over at me with a small smile on my face.

"Seto got Torey pregnant," I said quietly to Téa, who was sitting next to me, trying to stay on her stool. "But I assume you already knew that. You lot always know stuff about Seto before I do."

"Not true," Téa said, taking a swig of her fifth UDL, "we didn't know about that article about them being together in the first place. I think Joey was the first to read it."

I thought about that morning and the way Joey had acted. He was pissed. I never expected him to attempt to run all the way to Seto's in his pyjamas. He really did hate seeing me upset, especially if Seto was the reason behind it. Maybe Joey was the better choice. I knew he would never do anything like Seto did. It was possible that I had made the right decision in agreeing to be Joey's girlfriend.

"Today's paper is the whole reason I wanted to drink. The fucking prick. And here I thought he loved me."

"But you love Joey," Téa slurred before falling off her stool yet again.

"I love them both," I confessed, "but I think I love Seto more. As soon as he pops into my head, I can't stop thinking about him." I felt tears in my eyes and I let them fall.

"Well, you need to sort your shit out," Tristan snapped from behind me. I spun around in fright and watched him sit down on a stool. He grabbed a can of Woodstock. "Joey doesn't deserve to be lead on."

"I'm not leading him on!" I retorted. I grabbed another can of Double Black and drank about half before putting it on the ground. The alcohol went straight to my head. "He knows I love him!"

Tristan rolled his eyes before getting up and joining the boys once more. I guessed he just wanted another drink. I looked around the yard and saw the mess we had made. Various cans and bottles scattered across the lawn, empty cartons slightly burnt sitting beside the bonfire. I made a mental note to clean up once I became sober, but I knew I would not remember, or I would probably fall asleep before I was able to think clearly.

"Tristan's right, Callie," Téa piped up. "You need to sort out what you want. Joey loves you with all his heart; are you going to give him up for a snotty asshole that cheated on you?"

I knew Joey loved me with all his heart but it did not make my thoughts any clearer. Would I give him up for Seto? Not at that moment, I had to know what Seto wanted. I got up and nearly fell back. Everything was in slow motion. Téa said something to be but I just said I was going to make a phone call. I made my way to the back of the yard, away from everyone so they could not hear me. I pulled out my phone and pressed a button. The screen nearly blinded me but I managed to find Seto's number. I hit the call button. _Shit, I should have hid my number! _However, it was too late at that point. The phone was ringing.

"Callie?" Seto answered quietly. He sounded tired.

"I hear you're having a baby with Torey," I said casually. I sounded a lot braver than I felt.

"Where are you?" Seto questioned, ignoring my statement.

"Pfft, as if I'd tell you," I slurred before swearing as I lost my balance. I fell back and landed on my bum.

"Are you drunk?" Seto actually sounded worried.

"Maybe," I dragged on, before giggling. "What's it to you?"

"You're underage."

"And you care, why?"

"Because."

"That's not an answer."

"Why are you drinking?"

"What is this? 21 Questions?" I questioned before looking towards the bonfire. Téa was dancing around with Yugi while Duke and Tristan watched them. Joey was nowhere to be seen.

"I've only asked you two questions," Seto stated dryly.

"Shut up, Kaiba. Are you excited about being a father?" I asked while trying to keep down the vomit that was trying to make its way up my throat.

Seto was silent for a moment. "I never wanted this."

"Never wanted what, exactly?"

"I never wanted to lose you . . ."

That was it. I could not talk to him anymore. My heart was racing. The sound of his voice made me want him back even more. When I first moved to Domino, I never thought that arrogant asshole would become such a huge part of my life. I was in love with him. Yet, all he did was lie and cheat. Hell, he even got someone pregnant. I was never in Seto's league and I was not in Joey's league. I was done with the games. The alcohol I had consumed was making me braver by the second. Despite the growing feeling to be sick, I took a deep breath before I told Seto something I knew I could never take back.

"I'm done with these games. Either you want me, or you don't. I'm done fucking around. All I wanted was to be yours and for you to open your heart to me. But, no, you could not give me that. You lied to me, you cheated on me, and you even got the same girl pregnant. What the fuck is wrong with you? I'm in love with you but all you've done is play a game with my heart. My heart isn't a Duel Monsters card, but yet you play with it like it is. You're playing a game of hearts and cards, Seto Kaiba, and I'm done being a part of it. I am going to delete you number and then go and break up with Joey because he deserves so much more than me, because I cannot give him my heart."

I hung up before Seto could anything. I wiped my face and to my surprise, it was wet. I had been crying, but I did not feel those tears seep down my face. Maybe because my cheeks were numb from the cold. I slowly pulled myself off the ground and immediately after, everything started to spin, but I managed to stay on my feet. Without deleting Seto's number, I slipped my phone back into my pocket. Saying that to Seto did not make me feel any better. I stumbled forward and headed back to the bonfire where Duke took me into his arms. Joey was still MIA.

"Are you okay? What happened?" Duke asked softly, stroking my head.

"I called Seto."

Duke pulled me to arms length and observed me carefully. "Why?"

"I know about Torey's pregnancy. I called him about it," I heard myself mumble. I felt strange, like everything was muffled, everything was moving in slow motion. "I need to find Joey; I can't do this to him."

"Cal, you're drunk. Just sit down for a few minutes," Duke tried to tell me, but I pushed him away and stumbled towards the side gate. It creaked loudly as I pushed it open. I waddled around to the front of the house where I found Joey. He was sitting on the front step with his head in his hands. I wondered if he was still drunk.

Thunder rumbled overhead as I approached the front step. I plopped down next to him and sighed. The vomit from before was brewing up again.

"We need to talk. . ." I trailed off before leaning over the side of the step and dry heaving. Fortunately, nothing came up.

"Yeah, we do. I know you called Kaiba. How did you find out about that girl being pregnant?" Joey asked, rubbing his temples. He did not look drunk, just tired.

"There was a newspaper under my bag on the bench at the mall. I read it. How did you know I called him?"

"I saw you walk off and I followed. When I knew you were talking to him, I walked away. I didn't want to hear anything else," Joey explained. "I don't think the others even noticed I disappeared; their so drunk they can barely see two feet in front of them."

I laughed, but it was not full hearted. I had to do it. I did not want to begin sobering up; I would lose all my nerve. I took in a deep breath before blowing it out in an exaggerated manner. _Okay, here it goes._

"Joey, I can't be with you."

The reaction I got was one I was not expecting. I did not get one. Joey just sat there, looking at his feet. He never blinked. I opened my mouth to say something, but that was a mistake. Before I was sick on Joey, I spun around and put my head in the flowers of the Gardner's garden. I brought up the last bit of grog that I had to drink. It burnt my mouth and tasted horrible.

"Are you okay?" Joey asked from beside me. I felt a hand on my back.

"I think so," I groaned. I spat out the remainder and sat back up.

"So you're going back to Kaiba?"

I looked at Joey in shock. He must not have stuck around long enough to hear the long speech I gave Seto. I did not need to be a genius to figure out that Joey was incredibly hurt. His eyes were shadowed and he kept wringing his hands.

"No, I'm not. I've had enough of his shit. You know I love you too, Joey, but my heart belongs to Seto. I don't want to hurt you. I'm –." I did not get to finish because Joey suddenly stood up. I looked up at him.

"I know you still love him, Cal. I was aware of it even when I asked you out, but I still did because I wanted to help you get over him. But, it seems I can't do that. I wanted to make you happy. Why would you continually put yourself in a situation where you know you're gonna get hurt?"

Joey was more than hurt, he was pissed, but I did not blame him. I felt tears in my eyes once again but did not stop them. "I don't put myself in those situations. . ."

"Don't give me that bullshit, Caledonia!" Joey shouted, scaring me. "You've always gone back to Kaiba, even though you know he can't be trusted. You love being the victim, don't you?"

I was sure that if it could, my jaw would have hit the floor. A victim? Did he really think that of me? "If you thought that of me, why did you always comfort me when I was upset 'cause of him? Why not tell me that I was an idiot?" I said calmly, even though I just wanted to run away and cry. _That would just be me being the victim._

"Because I'm a good friend! But, you know what? I'm sick of you always swooning over Kaiba! He's got another girl pregnant, I doubt he's gonna want you to go back to him now!"

That hurt.

"But you don't care; you thrive off the drama he causes you. You get high off it. You're just an attention-seeking whore and I am done being your second choice. Sleep somewhere else tonight, I don't care where. You can get your stuff from mine in the morning."

Joey walked past me and around to the back yard. I was not as drunk as I was before but I still could not figure out if Joey had said that out of drunkenness, or if he was sober. Either way, he probably meant it. I had never heard him be so mean. I deserved it though; I had just broken up with him. Was that what the others thought of me? Probably. Maybe going to get my stuff from Joey's was a smart idea. I was sobering up, so I was sure I would be right to drive.

Not bothering to tell the others I was leaving, I made my way over to the car and started it. The sudden sound of my ringtone made me jump and swear loudly. I pulled it out and looked at it. _Seto. _Why was he calling? I let it ring out and revved the engine. I took off faster than I probably should have, considering I still had a fair amount of alcohol in my system. I assumed that because I could still use the breaks and control the car relatively well, I was fine to drive, even though my mind was elsewhere.

Maybe Joey was right. Maybe I loved being the victim. The more I thought about it, the more I realised that I kept running back to Seto because I knew nothing better. The relationship I had been in before had been horrible, and the relationship with Seto was not that great either. The relationship I had with Joey had been so different, I was not used to it. However, that did not matter anymore; Joey and I were no more.

Amazingly, I pulled up at Joey's without a scratch. With a fair bit of difficulty, I grabbed all the bags out of the boot. A lot of them were mine and the rest were the boy's. I thought it would have been best if I left all their stuff at Joey's, as I did not know where I was going to end up that night. I tried to make as little noise as possible while I climbed the stairs, but my attempts were futile as my phone rang again. I silently told it to shut up as I reached the door to the Wheeler apartment. I knocked a few times and hoped Mr Wheeler was still awake. My prayers were answered when Mr Wheeler opened the door.

"Oh, Callie. What are you doing back so early?" he asked, slightly shocked. "And where's Joey?"

"They're all still at Téa's. I just wanted to bring all this stuff back here," I said quietly, holding up the bags.

Mr Wheeler let me in and I apologised for disturbing him but he would not hear of it. He helped me carry the bags to Joey's room before leaving me to my own devices. I separated the bags and pulled out the presents I had bought for everyone. Going to Joey's bedside table, I opened the drawer in search of some paper and a pen for present tags. There were a few pieces of paper and a pencil sitting on top. I pulled them out and went to close the drawer, but something caught my eye. A picture of Joey and me at the park. I remembered Téa taking the photo, but I did not know Joey had it printed. We had a picnic at the park a week before. I had prepared some food for the picnic and was preparing all the plates and stuff when Joey had tackled me. The photo was of Joey on top of me, trying to squeeze me to death. We both looked happy. Very different to how we both felt at that moment. I became aware that I had broken Joey's heart. I felt horrible. I never wanted things to turn out the way they did. I wiped a few tears away before getting started on the presents.

Three missed calls from Seto and nine missed calls from Duke later, I was finished with all the presents. On each tag, I put whom it was to and ended it with two simple words: 'I'm sorry'. Maybe I was being melodramatic, but I was an over-emotional person. I was sure if I had actually let my tears flow freely, I would have been swimming. My eyes were sore from trying to contain them. I picked up my phone. 1.27 AM.

During the 45 minutes I had been sitting in Joey's room, I had sobered up quite a bit, which enabled me to think about where my life was heading and what I had left. I did not have anything in Domino any more. Seto was about to start a family with someone else, I was pretty sure Joey hated me and there was no doubt in my mind that the gang were not far off feeling the same way. Maybe it was best to head back to Australia and go back to school. Besides the fact that I had not been attending much since I arrived in Domino, there was no way I would be able to go back to Domino High, not with all the articles about Seto and Joey involving me; I would be hassled to no end.

My phone went off in my hand. It was a text from Duke.

_Where the fuck are you? Answer your goddamn phone!_

Standing up, I began to type a response, the only one I was going to send.

_I'm fine. About to leave Joey's head out to the airport. I'm gonna go back to Australia. I'll let you know when I leave and arrive. I'll make sure the car is locked and everything and I'll leave the keys with the admin people at the airport. Sorry for taking your car. Love you Duke._

It did not take me long to gather all my clothes and stuff from the spare room. I left a note on the back of the lounge, thanking Mr Wheeler for his hospitality and putting up with me. I quietly made my way back down to the car and shoved all my stuff in the boot. I got in the car and began to drive out to the airport. I was glad the back seat of the car was comfortable because I was going to be sleeping on it that night. I really did not want to leave Domino, but it was for the best. Seto would be able to move on with his life and not have me hanging over his head, Joey would not have to deal with me being an attention-seeker and the gang could have their little group the way it was before I appeared.

I sobbed loudly and tried to wipe my eyes while concentrating on the road. I was about to hit the highway so I sped up a bit. My phone began to ring once again. Not taking my watery eyes off the road, I grabbed my phone and answered it.

"I've made up my mind Duke, I'm going back. It's what's best."

"Going back where?" Seto's voice responded in my ear. I nearly dropped my phone. "Where are you? Why haven't you been answering?"

"Maybe I don't want to talk to you," I snipped as I applied a bit more pressure to the accelerator. "I'm heading back to Australia, Kaiba. You won't need to worry about me being a burden on you and Torey."

I was still crying at that point and the tears would not stop. I manoeuvred around the bit of traffic that was on the road, not once did I apply the brakes.

"Callie, I don't want you to leave. I'm sorry about everything," Seto said quietly.

"You're sorry?!" I yelled incredulously. "Bull fucking shit!"

"Cal, please," Seto pleaded. He sounded so worried.

"I love you. . ." I sobbed as I took my eyes off the road for a split second.

That was all it took. The moment my eyes returned to the road, I slammed on the brakes. The car's back end swerved around just before it hit the side railing. All I could hear was my screams as the car rolled down the side of the hill. I did not make it to the airport. . .


	20. Chapter 20

**So, I'm posting this as the last chapter. It was going to be the first chapter in the next book, but it doesn't seem right. Anyway, here ya go. :D**

The loud beeping of my alarm shook me out of my light sleep. I reached over and slammed my hand down on the buttons, hoping it would shut up. It failed. I had a hard time opening my eyes because of the sun shining through my window. I sat up and turned off my alarm before swinging my legs over the side of the bed. The floor felt unusually rough under my feet as I made my way to the bathroom. Looking at my reflection in the mirror above the basin, I noticed how horrible I looked. My normally dark blue eyes were red and puffy, my cheeks were red and my brown hair was a mess. There was one person responsible for my horrid state: me.

The night before, Torey had told me that she was carrying my baby. I had no idea how to react. I did not want a baby, especially with her. She told me that she had informed the papers and the article would be in the paper that morning. Why would she have told the papers before me? One reason: publicity. I kicked her out and told her to give me space. I tried to prevent the article from being printed, but the printers would not hear of it. True, I had enough power to destroy them for not stopping the story, but they did not care. It was big news to them.

My personal life was a mess. Mokuba was hardly talking to me, he was still mad at me from what happened with Callie and that I had been seeing Torey. Truth be told, I had no idea why I was still involved with her; everything had gone downhill from the moment I met her. I had gotten what information I wanted out of her. She possessed company secrets that I wanted, and I did whatever I had to, to get them. It was part of the reason I wanted to meet with her in the first place. The president of Chrome Industries had let slip that Torey knew many details about the company that no one else should know. I guess he thought I would not be interested, but he thought wrong. But of course, the day I obtained the last few bits of information I wanted from Torey, was the day she told me she was carrying my kid. How was I supposed to ditch her?

Because of the desire to obtain another company's secrets, I had lost someone who meant a hell of a lot to me. Not that I would openly admit it to anyone, I was in love with Callie. I must admit my feelings for her were not that strong when I had kissed Torey that day I met with her, it was why I was prepared to do whatever it took to get those secrets. But, my feelings for Callie grew. She was beautiful, funny, kind and she was different from any other girl. She did not care about trivial things like make-up and fake nails. Mokuba adored her. I wanted to stop that story from being printed because of her. I had hurt her enough, even though I had a feeling she would not care because she was with Wheeler. That bit of information made my blood boil. She was only with him to annoy me. I still wanted her. I wanted her to be mine, and only mine. However, I knew I could not have her; she hated me.

I closed my eyes tightly trying to stop the tears. I was glad no one could see me. I was so angry with myself. I wanted to hit something. Hard. A few seconds later, my fist collided with the mirror, shattering it. A few shards flew past my face. _What am I supposed to do? _I pulled my hand away and looked at the few pieces of glass in my fist. Blood slowly dribbled down my arm. I swore under my breath as I began to pull the glass out of my hand.

"Seto?" I heard Mokuba call from the other side of my bedroom door. "I heard a smash; is everything okay?"

My eyes darted to the broken mirror and down to my bloody hand. I knew I needed stitches, but I was not worried about it at that point. "Uh, yeah, I'm fine, Mokuba!"

"Can I come in? Or is _Torey_ here?" Mokuba spat.

"She's not here, Mokuba," I sighed as I began to search my bathroom for some form of bandaging.

My bedroom door opened slowly. I quickly leapt out of the bathroom and shut the door behind me, hiding the broken mirror, as Mokuba slowly walked in. His long, black hair was all messy. He still looked half-asleep. I quickly held my bleeding hand behind my back; he did not need to know about it.

"Seto, your face is bleeding," Mokuba said worriedly. He approached me as I reached up and felt my face with my good hand. I felt a small welt just under my right eye. Looking at my fingers, I saw blood smeared over the tips. A bit of glass must have nicked my flesh. "What happened?"

"Nothing, Mokuba. Just leave it," I said before running my hand though my hair.

"I've seen the paper, Seto," he said carelessly, looking around my room.

"And?" I asked, trying to sound like I did not care.

"How could you do that to Callie? She will never forgive you, but I suppose you don't care about that. You don't care about her at all." And with that, Mokuba turned and walked out of my room, leaving me to my thoughts, and my bleeding hand.

"I do care about her. . ." I muttered to myself before looking at my bleeding hand. The flow had slowed a bit, but the small pool of blood that was behind me told me I needed to get the cuts stitched up.

"Mr Kaiba, how you feel about becoming a father?"

"How do you know it's yours?"

"Did you plan this?"

"Was this a way to get back at Caledonia for deserting you for Joseph Wheeler?"

The moment I arrived at Kaiba Corp, reporters, eager to get the latest scoop on my personal affairs, bombarded me. I gave them all a hard glare before pushing my way through them. I made it to the elevator and sighed in relief when the doors closed behind me. The story of Torey's pregnancy had been published. I had hoped that the printers were smart enough to rethink their decision to say no to me. There was no way I was going to have a quiet day to sort my head out; those vultures would be in the building all day. If they even thought about harassing Mokuba about it, heads would fly. He did not even know about it. How was I supposed to tell him that? He would hate me more.

Preparing myself for more reporters, I closed my eyes as the elevator doors opened. When silence met me, I opened my eyes to see a deserted corridor. I let go of the breath I did not know I was holding and began to walk towards my office. I saw Tilly sitting at her desk, talking on the phone. She saw me approaching and said something hurriedly into the phone before hanging up.

"Oh, good morning, Sir? How are you?" she asked happily.

"There are reporters down stairs. I want you to contact all my security personnel and get them to keep them away from this floor. And I want someone with Mokuba," I said quickly as I opened my door. "And hold my calls. I'm not dealing with anyone today."

"Okay, congratulations, by the way," Tilly piped up. I turned and looked at her. "Miss Donavon just called and told me the wonderful news. She also wants to have lunch with you today."

"I'll call her," I said coldly.

I really did not want to associate myself with Torey that day. I grabbed the newspaper that Tilly was holding out for me and walked into my office, locking it behind me. The article on the front page was not very long, but it had all the necessary information. They even brought Callie into it. I hoped reporters were not hounding her, but then, they did not know what she looked like, considering she changed her hair. I thought back to the night Torey dragged me to that Karaoke Bar. She had been adamant that we go to the opening. I had to do everything she wanted if I had any chance of getting her company's information. I had no idea it was Callie singing her heart out on stage. No wonder she looked shocked when she saw me with Torey. I still did not know what possessed me to get on stage with Callie and sing. Maybe I just wanted to be near her. I enjoyed singing with her, regardless of the geek squad hearing me.

I picked up my phone and searched for the number I was looking for. Reluctantly pressing the call button, I put the phone up to my ear and waited.

"Seto? Hey," Torey's voice said happily.

"Yeah, look. We're not having lunch today. I have stuff to do," I said stiffly.

"But, I want to talk about what I told you last night. We need to. I want to know what you think about it," Torey said worriedly. She sounded like she was about to cry, but I did not let it phase me.

"I don't even know if you really are pregnant, Torey. You shouldn't have gone to the paper with this."

"But, I thought everyone would like to know. Plus, I'm sure it would boost business for Kaiba Corp."

"I don't care. You shouldn't have done it."

"It's Callie, isn't it?" Torey shot at me. I sat there, stunned for a moment. "That's why you didn't want the story printed. You're worried about her. That stupid slut left you-"

"Shut your mouth!" I snapped angrily. "Don't talk about her like that. Now, I've got stuff to do."

I hung up before Torey could say anything else. How dare she call Callie a slut? I knew I should not have let it bother me, but I loved her. I wanted to tell Torey she could shove her pregnancy, but I knew it would backfire on me. I was not even sure she was pregnant. It was highly possible that she was lying through her teeth. But, if she was not lying, what was I supposed to do then? I could not just leave her; it was my baby. Ultimatum: do what my heart wanted or what my head said was right.

The paparazzi had died down by the end of the day, for which I was glad. Mokuba had called earlier in the day to thank me for sending someone to be with him. Apparently, the reporters wasted no time in trying to find Mokuba. He did not get wind of what was happening with Torey and me. My goon had ushered Mokuba away before he could hear anything. That just heightened his curiosity. I still could not tell him.

Torey had tried to contact me all day. Every time I told Tilly to tell her I was busy, they would chat for about five minutes, and then Torey would call my mobile. I ended up turning it off. However, I called her just after lunch and told her to meet me at my place tonight. I was determined to get the truth.

The mansion was rather quiet that night. I had sent everyone home for Christmas and Mokuba was in his room, playing games. The whole situation was a great Christmas present. Note the immense amount of sarcasm. A girl I had used was supposedly pregnant with my baby, my little brother would not speak more than a few words to me and I had lost someone who drove me insane, but I craved for every day. Even if Torey was telling the truth, there was no way I would have felt the same way about her as I did Callie. The sooner if found out the truth, the better.

But, Torey never showed. I called her a few times but she did not answer. I assumed she had been lying about the whole thing. She would not be able to produce a positive pregnancy test in front of me. It made me feel a whole lot better; however, there was something in my head telling me it was not over. I ended up going to bed at around 9 PM; my mind would not give it a rest.

My phone going off woke me up a few hours later. My hand fumbled across my bedside table in search of my phone. I felt it and slowly opened my eyes. Through the glare of the screen, I could see the caller ID.

"Callie?" I groaned while wiping my face. She was the last person I was expecting to call.

"I hear you're having a baby with Torey," Callie commented over the sound of music. Was she at a party?

"Where are you?" I asked quickly. I gathered she had seen the article, but I did not want to talk about it with her. I did not want to upset her.

"Pfft, as if I'd tell you – oh, fuck!" Callie slurred. She grunted a moment after. Wait, slurred? She was drunk. I did not know she was the sort of person who would go out and get drunk, considering she was underage.

"Are you drunk?" I asked her, even though I knew the answer. What if she wandered off somewhere by herself and no one noticed.

"Maybe, what's it to you?" she giggled.

I sat up, fully alert. I was trying to hear past Callie to figure out who she was with. It could give me some hint as to where she was.

"You're underage," I stated simply.

"And you care, why?" Callie shot at me.

_Because I love you. . ._

"Because."

"That's not an answer," she retaliated.

"Why are you drinking?" I asked, trying to change the subject. Of course, it was not that hard with Callie being drunk and all.

"What is this? 21 Questions?" Callie retorted before falling silent.

"I've only asked you two questions," I corrected. _Oh, technically, I've asked her three. _But, she was drunk, she would not notice. I heard laughter in the background. It sounded like the Geek Squad so I relaxed a little. At least Callie was with somewhat sensible people, but then again, what if they were drunk too.

"Shut up, Kaiba. Are you excited about being a father?"

That question stumped me. Callie sounded upset, even though she tried to cover it up. I had never thought about it like that. Me, a father? How was I supposed to handle a kid? I had a company to run. Sure, I looked after Mokuba in the orphanage and after I won Kaiba Corp of my stepfather, but that was different. Mokuba was old enough to do things on his own. What had I done? I had lost Callie. It was clear to me. I would never be able to get her back. If only I was able to go back in time. . .

I swallowed before saying quietly, "I never wanted this."

"Never wanted what, exactly?" Callie snipped.

"I never wanted to lose you . . ."

My throat started hurting. I could feel the tears building up but I held them back. It was not the time to cry. I was Seto Kaiba. How was it possible that a girl that entered my life only two months before had such an impact on my emotions and me? Callie did something that I thought was not possible, something I was sure, other people thought was impossible. She made me love someone other than Mokuba. She actually made me happy. How could I get Callie to understand that I never intended to hurt her? How could I make her not hate me as much?

"I'm done with these games. Either you want me, or you don't. I'm done fucking around. All I wanted was to be yours and for you to open your heart to me. But, no, you could not give me that." Callie paused for a few moments in which I opened my mouth to say something, but she kept going. "You lied to me, you cheated on me, and you even got the same girl pregnant. What the fuck is wrong with you? I'm in love with you but all you've done is play a game with my heart. My heart isn't a Duel Monsters card, but yet you play with it like it is. You're playing a game of hearts and cards, Seto Kaiba, and I'm done being a part of it. I am going to delete your number and then go and break up with Joey because he deserves so much more than me, because I cannot give him my heart."

The next thing I heard was the beep signalling the end of the phone call. I moved the phone away from my ear and stared at it. She was done. She did not want anything to do with me. I had lost Callie and I did not know what to do about it. I thought back to the last thing she said. Break up with Wheeler because she could not give him her heart. Did that mean she actually had feeling for him? Was that why they had always been so close? I had pushed her into Wheeler's arms, and it pissed me off, even though she said she was going to break it off.

That was not the end of it, not if I had anything to say about it. I shook my head roughly and searched for a number. The phone rang out and went to message bank.

"You need to prove to me that you're pregnant. You will meet me at the hospital first thing in the morning."

Short, sweet and to the point. I was not in the mood. I threw my phone onto the bed and put my head in my hands. I decided to go to my office and do some research on the latest bit of information I had obtained from Torey. Maybe it would get my mind off the mess I had put myself in.

The owner of Chrome Industries had a deep, dark secret that they were intent on keeping hidden. I needed to know what it was. Many pages popped up after I typed in the name _Viola Rodriguez_, a lot contained information I already knew. The company was formed four years before in Australia after her divorce. It was pretty nasty, she took her ex-husband to the cleaners; robbed him of all he was worth.

It took me an hour or so, but I finally found something. Viola had been to court once before with her husband. They had left out many details but it did say they were charged with neglect and endangering a human life. _No wonder she wants this kept under wraps. It would ruin her if it were to get out._

I opened another webpage to search for more information, but the faint ringing of my phone interrupted me. I groaned before getting up and making my way back to my room. The walls lit up as my phone flashed in tune with the ringtone. I picked it up and answered. I did not know the number.

"Kaiba," I stated coldly.

"Have you seen or heard from Callie in the past half hour or so?" Devlin's erratic voice demanded.

"No, why?" I asked carelessly, despite the growing dread in the pit of my stomach.

"She's taken off with my car," Devlin said.

In the background, I could hear Wheeler panicking. "Oh, no. How could I say that stuff to her? What if she's crashed somewhere?"

_Wait, she took off in the car, while she was drunk?_

"Did she say anything to anyone before she left?" I asked, trying to hide my worry. How careless could Callie get?

"She talked to Joey, but didn't say anything about going anywhere."

"Okay, try and get in contact with her, try and find her. I'll try too."

I hung up and dialled Callie's number. What would possess her to get behind the wheel drunk? What did Wheeler say to her? I growled when the phone rang out. I was not one to panic, but every bone in my body was screaming 'get your ass out there and find Callie'. So, I did. As I passed Mokuba's room in my mad dash to get to my car, I thought about waking him to tell him what was going on. But, I let him sleep; if anything happened I would call him.

The streets of Domino were deserted. Thunder rumbled loudly over the roof of my Aventador as I drove along, keeping my eyes peeled for any sign of Callie. A sheet of rain suddenly pelted the car. I ignored it as I tried her number again but it rang out. How could one girl disappear without a trace? Maybe the Dweeb Patrol was having more luck. I prayed Callie was not driving around, or that she had at least sobered up. I needed to tell her I loved her. I needed to tell her the truth about why I began seeing Torey.

I called again, but of course, no answer. I threw my phone on the passenger seat before pulling over. My head hit the steering wheel as I closed my eyes tightly.

"Where are you, Callie?" I asked aloud. I racked my brain trying to think of where Callie might have been hiding. "Please don't be in a ditch somewhere. . ." Picking up my phone, I tried my luck for the fourth time. Surprisingly, on the fourth ring, someone answered.

"I've made up my mind, Duke," Callie said flatly. "I'm going back. It's what's best."

She must not have looked at her phone before she answered. I daresay Devlin had managed to get in contact with her. "Going back where?" I asked quickly. She did not sound drunk. "Where are you? Why haven't you been answering?"

I was so glad she was okay. That feeling of dread had pretty much disappeared from my body and I could not help but smile at hearing her voice.

"Maybe I don't want to talk to you," she snapped, which tore the smile off my face. She sounded teary. I hated it when she cried; I felt so helpless. The sound of an engine being revved filled my ears. Damn, she was driving, in this weather. "I'm heading back to Australia, Kaiba. You won't need to worry about me being a burden on you and Torey."

Going back to Australia? Why? Something must have happened to make her want to leave Domino. "Callie, I don't want you to leave," I sighed sadly. "I'm sorry about everything."

Callie laughed a dark laugh. "You're sorry?!" she yelled. "Bull fucking shit!"

"Cal, please," I pleaded desperately. I wanted her to pull over and calm down.

"I love you. . ." she sobbed.

The next thing I heard made my heart stop. Tyres screeched loudly before the crunch of metal and Callie's horrified screams filled my ears. It was followed by a massive bang, and then silence. I shouted into the phone as my car roared to life. The tyres spun wildly before my car shot out from the kerb. I kept a hold of my phone after I hung up. Not having any regard for the road rules, I flew through red lights and ignored stop signs. I was trying to think about where Callie was but all I could hear were Callie's screams. I shook my head roughly, as I sped out onto the highway. The rain had died down which made seeing my surroundings a little easier. She wanted to go back to Australia. Maybe she was heading out to the airport. It was worth a try, even if it was nearly 2 AM.

Up ahead, I could see a massive hole in the guard rail along the curve in the road. I hit the brakes and my car swerved slightly before it stopped. I flew out and ran to the edge. "Fuck!"

A car was sitting next to a rather large tree, facing the opposite direction. The roof had been ripped off, the engine was smoking, a door had been ripped off and a tyre was missing. There was no glass left on the car. There was a figure against the steering wheel, not moving. I slipped and slid down the hill, my heart ready to explode in my chest.

I could have cried. Blood dripped from various cuts. A bone jutted out of her arm. Her eyes were closed as her head lay on the steering wheel. Callie was in a bad way. I reached out and touched her face. She felt so cold. Pressing two fingers to her neck, I felt a very faint pulse. She was alive.

"Callie?" I whispered urgently. "Please wake up." I rubbed my eyes with the back of my hand. I knew I was not allowed to move her so I called an ambulance with the phone that had not left my hand.

"Get a fucking ambulance on the road to the airport. A major car accident. She has a pulse but is unresponsive."

I shoved my phone in my pocket before cupping Callie's face. I rubbed her cheek with my thumb. _This is my fault. . ._


End file.
